Hello, hope you’re coasting into the long weekend. In this special newsletter, we pulled together some recent highlights from our series “I’ve Always Wondered.”

Marketplace’s Janet Nguyen answers a new question each week from a real Marketplace fan. She can answer your questions, too! Just fill out this form.

If you’re looking for some union-related listening ahead of Labor Day, I recommend Kimberly Adams’ recent interview about how one of the nation’s largest federation of labor unions sees AI and midterms now.

Next week, we’ll hear from some real people who have dropped out of the labor force. — Tony Wagner, newsletter editor

Scott Politte, president of Stivers Ford Lincoln in Iowa, has been selling cars for over 34 years. Bartering over prices is just the way business has always been done, he told Marketplace.

While we can't haggle over prices at the supermarket, Politte said he understands why it's part of the car industry. Dealerships aren't usually owned by the manufacturer, so they're competing with other dealerships. Politte said there are four or five Ford dealers just in his market. 

"The factory sells it to us for the same [amount], and at that point, the issue becomes who wants to make a car deal, and we're conditioned to sell a vehicle," Politte said. 

And not selling that vehicle is expensive. 

"Every single day that it sits, it actually costs them money," said Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds, an online car shopping resource. "They actually borrow money to buy the cars from the automaker, and then they pay interest on it every single day that's sitting there. So they have their own incentive to sell it as fast as they can." 

Automakers, even though they don't own the car anymore, also want to help dealers, which is why they might throw in different financing options, like a low interest rate, Drury said. 

So how are prices set?

Americans’ personal savings rate, or the portion of disposable income that’s not spent, stands at just 3% as of July.

"We are definitely saving less, and less than any other time in history outside of the pre-2008 financial crisis," said Inga Timmerman, an associate professor of finance at the University of North Florida and a financial planner.

The personal savings rate was higher in the 1960s and the 1970s, typically hovering between 10% and 15%. People had more money to save because after World War II, incomes began to rise consistently and there was a big push for pensions, Timmerman said.

People also didn't have credit cards like they do now, so they needed to save more money to make bigger purchases, said Mengya Wang, an assistant professor of human development and family science at Oklahoma State University.

In the 1990s and 2000s, the personal savings rate began to dip significantly. But while it was low, it's not low for the same reasons it is now, Timmerman said.

"When you think back to the 1990s and early 2000s, you had this huge wealth effect because people had a lot of stocks and investments, and the stock market was booming. So people didn't need to save as much because they could rely on the income from other sources," Timmerman said.

In 2020, a padded flat-rate envelope via priority mail through the U.S. Postal Service cost $8.40. Now it costs $14. And the hikes are speeding up.

Under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who served as head from 2020 to 2025, rates went up on a semi-annual basis.

"Prices are going up for everything," said Christopher Shaw, a postal service historian and policy analyst. "The agency's expenses are going up alongside everything else because their inputs are going up on contracting for mail transportation and fuel costs and all that."

Since January 2020, consumer prices have risen nearly 30%.

The Post Office, under DeJoy's tenure, also started tacking on holiday surcharges during some years, a practice first used by private shipping companies, like UPS and FedEx, Shaw said.

But while some might encounter similar prices on certain packages, like Carol, they offer competitive prices. The Post Office has worked hard to keep its mailing services affordable, said James O'Rourke, a teaching professor emeritus of management and organization at the University of Notre Dame.

"The Post Office serves all Americans, every piece, every address, every day," O'Rourke said.

Over the years, the Post Office's financial situation has deteriorated, Shaw said. There's been a shift to electronic delivery, a trend that accelerated under the Great Recession.  Companies like banks, looking to trim their costs, pushed consumers to get their statements delivered online instead of through physical mail, Shaw said.

“And because it provides lots of economically inefficient services to the American people, it's just very hard for [the Post Office] to actually not run a deficit,” Shaw said.

Nearly a quarter of the Post Office’s operating expenses used to be funded through Congressional appropriations. Now it funds its operations through the sale of its own products and services, although it still gets some money from Congress.

Private companies like UPS and FedEx are grappling with the same inflationary issues, leading to higher prices, Shaw said.

I guess an obvious pick here would have been “I Wonder” by Kanye West, but Ye’s a little tough to recommend these days. So why don’t we listen to the beautiful 1972 song he sampled in 2007.

“And I wonder / if you know / what it means / to find your dreams come true…”

Hope you enjoyed this issue, and remember: If there’s something you’ve always wondered about business, tech or the economy, we’re here to help!