What is something that was once well respected that is now not?

Lanky_Pomegranate530@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 78 points –
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The post office.

You can send a letter to anywhere in the US for less than a dollar and it gets there quickly. You don't even need to leave your house to do it. Now people complain about lines and that it isn't profitable.

The only reason why it isn't currently profitable is that Republicans forced them to fund their retirement plan decades in advance and all within a few years time. They were having to save for future employees that hadn't even been born yet.

There's also this weird discussion trap that damn near everybody falls into regarding the post office - why does it need to be profitable at all? It's a government service - nobody expects schools, police departments, fire departments, NASA, public works departments, health departments, departments of transportation, the military, or basically anything else to be profitable.

Yeah I think that comes from it being one of the few government services that has private competitors. I'm sure a few campaign contributions helped sway a certain party's membership to hammer profitability. We saw what they did when Trumps lackey was appointed to the post office and began gutting sorting centers and anything else that would help efficiency and profitability.