ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses public service and explores the service to the public. It distinguishes the frequently confused types of service because they have considerably different emphases. Service to the public concerns an agreement between parties that, in a competitive atmosphere, results in benefits mutually agreeable to each side. Many private posts continued to exist to meet the communications needs of private citizens because the royal mail service was expensive and unreliable. Extending regular delivery to remote rural areas was another public service function that found shelter under the Post Office's mission of universality of service. Once the myth of the postal mission has been unmasked, the public service philosophy stands vacuous. Some public service functions performed by the Postal Service could probably be performed by some other organization. Rate-making in the past has functioned under the direction of the public service aspect of income redistribution.
