ailways by the fact
that, while the larger part of its traffic in parcels must under present
conditions necessarily be conveyed by railway for some part of the
journey, the actual points of despatch and receipt of the parcels by
the Post Office are not in the large majority of cases adjacent to the
railway stations from or at which the traffic is despatched or received
by railway.[669] It is, in consequence, necessary in such cases for the
Post Office to provide a service between the respective railway stations
and post offices.[670] If the railway companies provided adequate
collection and delivery services there would be no need for division of
the function with the Post Office. In many districts, however, the
railway companies would find the provision of any sort of regular and
universal service unremunerative, and this is probably the ultimate
reason why the State has found it necessary to intervene. In the United
States the introduction of a parcel post, and its extension to heavier
parcels, was avowedly in a large degree due to the fact that in many
parts of the country the railways, which are in private hands, did not
provide any service for parcels. Where a service was provided by the
railways, the rates and conditions were not satisfactory, and the
establishment of a parcel post represents an attempt to prevent the full
application of the principle of charging "what the traffic will bear."

The Post Office, moreover, as a public undertaking, cannot bargain
freely for special facilities or terms with individuals or firms having
large numbers of parcels for delivery within a limited area. Without
such specialization the Post Office must often be unable to offer the
most economical service, and private carrying agencies secure the
business. In those countries where a parcel post is in operation, the
Post Office does not rank as a transportation agency comparable with
those of the commercial world. The traffic which it secures is private
and personal rather than commercial, to a large degree exceptional
traffic which the machinery of the ordinary commercial transportation
agencies cannot, or at any rate in general does not, deal with--traffic
for remote and isolated residences, spasmodic in character, and,
compared with the total traffic in parcels, small in amount.[671] The
uniform rate favours such traffic, but the expense to the Post Office is
disproportionate to the revenue. From the broader standpoint this is