Traffic World reports in an article “Letter of the law”  

FedEx Express and the Department of Transportation are at a stalemate in a fight over how the airline must report volume and revenue information from the cargo it carries for the U.S. Postal Service.

“In mid-November, the DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics told FedEx [link added by PostalReporter.com] it must separate out mail numbers for Postal Service shipments moved under its multi-billion dollar, seven-year federal contract. In a directive for transparency in an operation with a large impact across the parcel delivery world, BTS ordered FedEx to provide the information immediately and going back to August.”

“The confidential contract led to FedEx hauling more than half of domestic mail, primarily parcels but also letter mail. Under the terms of the contract, it is up to the Postal Service to decide what it uses the FedEx space for.”

“That means the Postal Service does not pay by the tonnage it delivers, as it has for mail carried by commercial airlines, but can move mail or can use the space to move office equipment or whatever else it may want to ship for its own use.”

“In 2004, BTS asked FedEx Express to provide more detailed information about the mail it carries under the postal contract. Competitors, including the airlines that have lost huge volumes of mail under a USPS management of its delivery network, want those details as they seek ways to win back mail traffic.”

In an April 23, 2004 letter to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, FedEx wrote that  releasing revenue and volume information about its lucrative postal contract would bring the carrier and the USPS “commercial harm” and would delay mail delivery.

FedEx Seeks Review of BTS Decision

 

 See “Petition of Federal Express Corporation for Review”

If the decision to require the reporting is upheld, FedEx could go to court.

Related link: Postal Service Seeks Waiver For Submitting FedEx Agreement Data  (Sept. 2005)