Abstract
The provision of universal postal service at a uniform tariff is a central feature of the postal industry in nearly all developed countries. The universal service obligation (USO) so defined is fulfilled typically by a universal service provider (USP), which is granted a reserved area over part of the mail market as a way to fund the USO. The scope of this monopoly is under review in many countries as governments and regulatory authorities move towards the promotion of competition in the postal market as a way to improve efficiency and broaden the range of choice for consumers. In Europe, both national governments and the European Union have taken steps in this direction. The 1997 Postal Directive lowered the reserved area to 350g at the same time as proposing studies of the postal market with a view to introducing a further round of liberalization to come into effect in 2003 (Official Journal, L15/14 (1998)).
The Post Office
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Arthur Andersen. 1998. Study on the Impact of Liberalization in the Postal Sector, Lot 1: Direct Mail.
Bradley, Michael D., and Jeffrey Colvin. 2000. “Universal Service and Scope Economies.” In Current Directions in Postal Reform, edited by Michael A. Crew and Paul R. Kleindorfer, Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Cremer, Helmuth, Marc De Rycke and Andrè Grimaud, 1997. “Costs and Benefits of Universal Service Obligations in the Postal Sector.” In Managing Change in the Postal and Delivery Industries, edited by Michael A. Crew and Paul R. Kleindorfer, Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Cremer, Helmuth, Andrè. Grimaud, and Jean-Jacques Laffont. 2000. “The Cost of Universal Service in the Postal Sector.” In Current Directions in Postal Reform, edited by Michael A. Crew and Paul R. Kleindorfer, Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Crew, Michael A., and Paul R. Kleindorfer. 1998. “Efficient Entry, Monopoly, and the Universal Service Obligation in Postal Service.” Journal of Regulatory Economics, 14–2 (September): 103–125.
Crew, Michael A., and Paul R. Kleindorfer. 2000. “Liberalization and the Universal Service Obligation in Postal Service”. In Current Directions in Postal Reform, edited by Michael A. Crew and Paul R. Kleindorfer, Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
CTcon. 1998a. On the Liberalization of Clearance, Sorting and Transport.
CTcon. 1998b. Study on the Weight and Price Limits of the Reserved Area in the Postal Sector.
Dobbs, Ian and Jeanne Golay. 1995. “Universal Service Obligation and Reserved Sector.” In Cost of Universal Service, edited by Ulrich Stumpf and Wolfgang Elsenbast. Papers presented at the 3rd Königswinter Seminar, WIK Proceedings.
NERA. 1998. Costing and Financing of Universal Services in the Postal Sector in the European Union.
Official Journal of the European Communities, 21/01/98, No L 15/14, “Directive No 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service”.
PostEurop. 1999. Developing European Posts: A Review of the European Commission’s Studies on Postal Liberalization.
PricewaterhouseCoopers. 1998. The Impact of Liberalization of Cross-Border Mail.
Reay, Ian. 2000. “Liberalizing European Postal Markets: The Advantages of Reducing the Weight/Price Threshold.” In Current Directions in Postal Reform, edited by Michael A. Crew and Paul R. Kleindorfer, Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Robinson, Richard, and Frank. Rodriguez. 2000. “Liberalization of the Postal Market and the Cost of the Universal Service Obligation: Some Estimates for the UK.” In Current Directions in Postal Reform, edited by Michael A. Crew and Paul R. Kleindorfer, Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Rodriguez, Frank, Stephen Smith, and David. Storer. 1999. “Estimating the Cost of Universal Service Obligation in Postal Service.” In Emerging Competition in Postal and Delivery Services, edited by Michael A. Crew and Paul R. Kleindorfer, Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Reay, I., Robinson, R., Rodriguez, F., Liddiard, P. (2001). Estimation of the Potential Impact of Cross-Border Liberalization. In: Crew, M.A., Kleindorfer, P.R. (eds) Future Directions in Postal Reform. Topics in Regulatory Economics and Policy Series, vol 38. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1671-2_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1671-2_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5670-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-1671-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive