[OT] Postal services (was: better Internet)

Benjamin Scott dragonhawk at gmail.com
Wed Apr 7 16:12:02 EDT 2010


On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 12:39 PM, Michael ODonnell
<michael.odonnell at comcast.net> wrote:
>> Be federal law, anyone competing with the USPS must charge 3x what
>> their charging, no exceptions.
>
> I can't find anything on the Intertubes to support that assertion
> and it has a very Snopes-worthy whiff about it.  Can you substantiate?

  As I mentioned, I can't speak to that particular claim, but the
following sections of the US Code ("Federal law") do appear to enact
things along those lines:

Title 18, Section 1696, "Private express for letters and packets"
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1696.html
"Whoever establishes any private express for the conveyance of letters
... shall be fined not more than $500 or imprisoned not more than six
months, or both."

Title 39, Section 601, "Letters carried out of the mail"
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode39/usc_sec_39_00000601----000-.html
"A letter may also be carried out of the mails when ... the amount
paid for the private carriage of the letter is at least the amount
equal to 6 times the rate then currently charged for the 1st ounce of
a single-piece first class letter ..." [exceptions are specified]

  Also relevant is:

USPS Publication 542, "Understanding the Private Express Statutes"
http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/pubs/pub542.pdf
http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/pubs/pub542.htm

  USPS Pub 542, Section 443: "It will be conclusively presumed that a
letter is extremely urgent and is covered by the suspension if the
amount paid for private carriage of the letter is at least $3 or twice
the applicable U.S. postage for First-Class Mail (including Priority
Mail), whichever is greater."

  Of course, as mentioned, the law appears to contradict itself in places:

US Code, Title 39, Section 404a, "Specific limitations"
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode39/usc_sec_39_00000404---a000-.html
"... the Postal Service may not ... establish any rule or regulation
(including any standard) the effect of which is to preclude
competition ..."

  Ultimately, I would want to consult a subject matter expert before
drawing conclusions from any of this.

-- Ben



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