How the Postal Service Revolutionized Retailing

Once, not too long ago, the local shopping district was filled with booksellers and hardware dealers who had known you for years.

Then an out-of-town competitor homed in on the party, offering goods of all sorts delivered from a far-away warehouse. The local merchants, paying rent on their brick-and-mortar stores, couldn’t match the intruder’s prices. One by one, they began to close their doors.