 Most of these alternatives are not actually free in some communities.For example, in the Chicago metropolitan area and many other major metros one must get a background check from police and pay a daily fee for the right to solicit or post commercial messages on private property.Regarding the monopoly on delivery of letters, the report notes that the monopoly is not complete, as there is an exception for letters where either "the amount paid for private carriage of the letter equals at least six times the current rate for the first ounce of a single-piece First-Class Mail letter (also known as the "base rate" or "base tariff")" or "the letter weighs at least 12.5 ounces."