Atlas Shrugged: The Mocking

Friday, September 30, 2011

The Center Of The Universe

Shorter Megan McArdle: Screw the post office; I don't need it anyway.

If she doesn't need it, you don't need it. The world revolves around Miss Megan McArdle--it's her world and you just live in it.

10 comments:

BillCinSD said...

It's good Megan has forgotten all about 2006 and the pesky requirement to prefund pension obligations for the unborn mail carriers

Landru said...

The comments are awesome too. How is it possible to not grok that the Post is a constitutionally mandated function of the Federal government?

Hank said...

Doesn't she work for a magazine? And the magazine gets to people's houses how?

Downpuppy said...

Megan does have a fine ability to hold a grudge - http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/04/things-are-worse-at-the-post-office-than-i-thought/38356/

even if she never did manage to figure out how to mail a letter.

aimai said...

Isn't this just the shorter Megan Everything? To be followed by

"Oops, guess I did need the roads plowed in order to get my asthma meds in a snow storm"

and

"Oops, I guess I did need tenant's rights legislation when I was a tenant..."

Well, I think I should rephrase these because they are never past tense--to reflect on her own experience in the past and apply those lessons to the present would take thinking skills far beyond Megan's pay grade. She can never have an "oops" post because she never compares what she said previously with her real experience or her current experience.

aimai

atat said...

"the cavalier way that my current mail carrier dumps packages on my (in plain view of the street) stoop, rings the doorbell, and darts away without waiting to see that I am home. Though I often work on the couch right next to the front door, I have never made it to the door in time to catch him."

That's because those packages don't require a signature upon delivery, dummy. The postal worker doesn't care if you're home or not. You should be bitching at the people who are sending you packages without using delivery confirmation.

NonyNony said...

So - McArdle doesn't buy anything online?

Amazon.com's prices - and their "FREE Shipping" model - are dependent on the existence of the Post Office. Both when they use it for shipping AND to act as competition to UPS and FedEx to keep rates down. McArdle, as a business and economics editor, should probably understand this. I'll bet she doesn't.

Not to mention - the last 3 times I've ordered things online that have been shipped via UPS, UPS has dumped them off at my local post office and they've arrived in the mail instead of from the brown delivery truck. So UPS is also taking advantage of the low cost of the US Postal Service, at least around here, and baking that savings into what they're charging folks.

Losing the Post Office is a losing proposition for customers, so I can see why McArdle thinks it's just dandy.

Dillon said...

Though I often work on the couch right next to the front door, I have never made it to the door in time to catch him.

I'm sure mail carriers are careful to avoid McArdle, for the same reason they would avoid Hyacinth Bucket.

(mailman scene starts at 1:05)

Mr.Wonderful said...

So - McArdle doesn't buy anything online?

Late getting here, but this one comment splits all the other bullseye arrows and wins the prize. It takes a significantly pure grade of narcissism for McArdle to neglect this fundamental point, not in a comment to someone's blog, but in the course of doing her highly-paid job.

And that, assuming she doesn't buy things online. Since she knows that several other people do. But then, so does she. Amazing.

Susan of Texas said...

Aimai, yes!

Can you imagine if McArdle had servants? She'd constantly complain about their laziness like a Victorian matron.