EXPRESS SERVICE VS. PARCEL-POST
Before defining and demonstrating the advantages of a Government postal express, however, it may be necessary to discuss more fully the features which differentiate at present the parcel-post from the express service.
They fall into two classes, (a) Special forms of service, and (b) Rates.
Under (a):
It will be immediately realized that some of the features of the express service which are not rendered at present by the parcel-post could be and should be rendered by the parcel-post for one fee without separate charges. On the other hand, it will be realized that some of these features should be rendered by the parcel-post only as separate privileges for which separate fees should be charged, as, for instance, the service of collecting parcels from the shipper. ([Note 2].)
For instance, there seems to be no good reason for limits upon the size and weight of the packages in the parcel-post. These limits have steadily been expanded in the parcel-post system from its inception, and the process has so strikingly demolished whatever arguments for size and weight limits may have previously been considered that they no longer seem valid.
In Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Rumania, the old Russia and Switzerland, packages weighing up to 110 pounds may be sent by parcel-post (and after 100 pounds the freight service of the railroads is readily available in the United States as elsewhere). In 1915 France and Italy imposed weight limits of 22 pounds. In Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Rumania and Sweden there is no size limit, except that in certain cases special fees are charged for unusually large sizes. In Italy, the limit is 24 inches in any one dimension, although in certain cases packages 41 inches long are accepted. The limit in Denmark is 39 inches in any dimension. In France, the limit is 60 inches in any direction. With no limits upon weight and size, the parcel-post might handle the problem of especially cumbersome articles whose size is disproportionately large for their weight by following the example of the express companies, charging a special rate twice as large as the normal rate. And as to shipments so bulky that especial transportation facilities are needed for them another page might be taken from the books of the express companies, and special preliminary arrangements stipulated before such shipments are accepted.
Moreover, the experience of other countries proves that there is no insurmountable obstacle to removing the limit upon the amount for which a package may be insured. Merely, special provisions might be necessary, and perhaps an additional fee above the normal insurance fee charged, for articles such as jewelry, for which space in safes would have to be reserved, and for bullion, etc. The following countries seem to have no insurance limit: Austria, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Rumania, the old Russia, Sweden, Switzerland. The limit in France is $1,000; in Italy, $200. In addition, some countries give automatic indemnity without separate insurance fee, up to a small amount.
Similarly, now that the parcel-post experiments for small amounts have proved successful, the limit upon the amount collected from the consignee for the expressed article itself could be and should be either removed or greatly advanced, the fee for this service advancing with the amount collected. Nor does any cogent barrier present itself against a separate division in the parcel-post system to sell articles consigned to it, or even to buy them, the fee again synchronizing with the amount of the principal involved.