First-Class Mail on Air Transportation, Assignment by Weight – 12XG012NL000
- Directorate:
- Transportation
- Program Area:
- Transportation
- Responsible Postal Official:
- Start Date:
- 02-09-2012
- Estimated Report Date:
- 07-31-2012
AUDIT OVERVIEW
FedEx, UPS, and commercial air passenger carriers transport millions of pounds of First-Class Mail in the air each year for the United States Postal Service. Costs to fly First-Class Mail vary depending on the carrier. In some cases, the Postal Service pays by the cubic foot and in other cases the Postal Service pays by the pound. We plan to analyze information related to First-Class Mail that is transported by air, and identify possible cost savings if the heaviest mail is assigned to carriers who charge by the cubic foot while lighter weight containers are assigned to carriers who charge by the pound.
Would the post office still profit enough with this change even though it will be of advantage to consumers.
Thanks for your interest in the topic. While we do not know yet how much of an impact it would be for the Postal Service to assign First-Class Mail to commercial air carriers by weight, we hope that the benefit would be large enough to significantly help the Postal Service through these difficult economic times. Consumers would not have an advantage with these changes.
Does the US Post Office currently incur a profit or loss on this arrangement.
Yes I think they do
Should the Postal Service assign First-Class Mail to commercial air carriers based on weight with the assurance that service standards will be met?
do you charge on the with or the weight?
Thanks for the reply. The Postal Service pays contractors that transport First-Class mail in the air by either the size of the mail, or the weight of the mail. We will consider these factors in our analysis when we attempt to identify possible savings.