Posted by CJM on 12/01/06 13:17

"Harlan Messinger" <hmessinger.removethis@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:4takubF12q6qlU3@mid.individual.net...
>
> I don't see the government as being in business to make a profit. I see
> them as providing services at no more than cost. The cost of putting a
> list of postal codes on the postal organization's web site is de minimis.
> If they were to charge for cost, it would probably be under USD 1.
>

It depends on what scale you want to apply your de minimis rule. Rather than
providing a free service to big business, I'd rather they paid some of the
cost they would have had to incur had the data not been there on a plate for
them.

This revenue is then fed back into the governments coffers and can be used
to pay for healthcare and education. The alternative is the business gets it
easy, and I have to pay more taxes to prop up schools and hospitals.

In the UK, I don't think the Post Office even break even when delivering
mail; it is subsidised by other parts of the organisation that makes a
profit.

CJM

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