Post Office in Israel vs. Post Office in the US
Last week I was in my Direct Marketing Class at IDC Herzliya and our lecture focused on direct mail. After living with a direct mail company out of my house for the past 10 years, I realized that my knowledge of the issue was a little bit greater than most of my classmates. As my teacher is going through her lecture about the advantages and application of direct mail one of my roommates from Germany asked “Why is direct mail allowed when they have already banned telemarketing.” The teacher did not know how to respond except for saying, “I have never thought about it.” In between games of Tetris, I raised my hand and said “the Post Office is dependant on direct mail in order to survive. If they cancelled direct mail than the Post Office as we knew it would disappear.” The teacher than said in Israel, the Israeli Post Office actually loses money on direct mail and they are able to make a profit in several different other areas like money exchange and as a place to pay bills. I recently had to go to the Post Office here in Israel and they were trying to sell me a product for a car.
The Israeli Post Office has moved to a point where they are able to make money from several different areas except for the typical mail. A country that prides itself on bueracracy has actually turned the corner and made what is a struggling sector in the US, to one that is generating a profit in Israel.
