Because people should be able to send things through the mail affordably regardless of where they live. That is a value that we used to hold as a country. Admittedly, that was back when at least a few of us actually viewed ourselves cohesively and cared about people other than ourselves.
There are things that make sense to socialize, others - not so much. Conjuring up a weird one that makes little sense isn't a proper argument, it's a straw man.
Being able to send mail is a basic skill required to participate in society - tons of democratic rights (voting by mail if you're disabled comes to mind) can be exercised through mail. Furthermore, being able to receive mail is just as important. We are a society that still has a lot of its fundamentals build on the exchange of physical documents. Sure, it is starting to be more economical in some instances to do that electronically, but that doesn't change the fundamental fact behind the idea.
There was a time when fresh water and, later, electricity were an outlandish commodity to have always ready in your household. At some point, society has made the decision that they should be a basic human right (although that depends on where you live - in some parts, there is a weird quasi-privatization going on that I find absurd).
Finally, it makes sense. If you have a thousand letters and 90% of them cost 10 cents to deliver while the other 10% cost 100 cents to deliver, that means the total cost are 19000 cents. An average of 19 cents per letter.
The question is: Would the people who would have to pay 10 cents actually care about paying 9 cents extra? Do they care that much that it outweighs the burden that is put on the 100-cent people? Put differently: Is the happiness and relief that the 100-cent people feel worth more than the minor grudge that the 10-cent people feel?
I think that is the case. It improves society to do economically sensible things like we do them. And that is why some commodities are "socialized" and others are not.
If receiving mail is a basic skill, then so is having a mailing address. Thus, Alaskans should subsidiz my rent.
As for your arguments about subjective feelIngs, if the minor grudge people feel when they are forced to pay for video games is smaller than the enjoyment gamers gain, should the government force non-gamers to subsidize gamers? If not, why not?
> If receiving mail is a basic skill, then so is having a mailing address. Thus, Alaskans should subsidiz my rent.
No, that does not follow.
> As for your arguments about subjective feelIngs, if the minor grudge people feel when they are forced to pay for video games is smaller than the enjoyment gamers gain, should the government force non-gamers to subsidize gamers? If not, why not?
Because you're trolling. I have no interest discussing this with somebody who obviously has no interest in what I have to say about it and instead just wants to have an excuse to talk about themselves.
I like not having to grow my own food. And I think rural people appreciate all the technology and media, enabled by population density, that we send their way. It's a nice symbiotic relationship.
This will probably continue to be the case until someone figures out how to make vertical farming competitive.
Indeed - its a nice symbiotic relationship enabled by trade and market pricing signals.
Why would market pricing fail in the case of letters when it seems to work so well (as you notes) for package delivery, food production and technology?
Note that this subsidizion can be a private, capitalist decision too. At least the package and mail carriers in my country do not charge by the mile, they charge by weight, so this is probably a non-issue.
I feel like you are not very educated in these matters. You act as if rent is never subsidized?
Honestly, and I don't want to be mean, but you have a stupid argument. Rent is actually subsidized in certain cases if certain qualifications are met. The same is true for post office. It's not like someone like you, apparently of the same intellectual level, who would build a house at the top of a volcano could (since you want to play the silly examples game) can expect the USPS to deliver mail to you.
You think you are being logical but honestly you are just silly and not educated about these matters.
