the
Post Office traffic in parcels, and the small degree in which the rates
of charge measure the utility of the service of transportation which
they cover, are well illustrated by the statistics of the traffic, which
indicate that the total numbers are unaffected by fluctuations in
general trade, and that the reductions of the rates which have been made
since the establishment of the service have had no appreciable effect on
the volume of traffic.[411] The actual rates for the heavier parcels are
probably more profitable than the rates for light parcels, since the
principle of degression is not much recognized in the scale of rates.
This view is confirmed by the fact that the post is little used for
heavy parcels, the average weight of a post parcel being no more than
2.8 pounds. It is, as a matter of fact, not improbable that the parcel
post service as a whole is conducted at heavy loss.[412]

NOTE.--As a war measure the rates were increased on 1st November
1915 by 1d. at each step in the scale, and are now as follow:--

Parcels not exceeding 1 lb 4d.
Exceeding 1 lb., not exceeding 2 lb. 5d.
" 2 " " 3 " 6d.
" 3 " " 5 " 7d.
" 5 " " 7 " 8d.
" 7 " " 8 " 9d.
" 8 " " 9 " 10d.
" 9 " " 10 " 11d.
" 10 " " 11 " 1s.

* * * * *

PARCEL POST IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Several causes operated to prevent the early establishment in the United
States of a parcel post system. The two factors of extent of territory
and sparsity of population, which had from the first so greatly
influenced the policy of the Government towards the Post Office, were of
much greater importance in regard to a parcel post system. The weight of
the individual letter is very small, and as the cost of transportation
depends in most cases entirely on weight, the system of uniform rates
which had been introduced in England had not been found impossible of
adoption in the United States. But with parcels, cost of transportation
is an appreciable item for every parcel, and in a country of vast
distances there must be an appreciable variation in the actual cost for
each parcel. Consequently, any uniform rate which would r