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The FedEx-vs-UPS lobbying knife-fight

By: Timothy P. Carney
Examiner Columnist
11/10/09 4:55 PM EST

Reason TV's Nick Gillespie weighs in on the UPS-vs-FedEx lobbying knife fight with this entertaining white-board video.

"The move to screw over FedEx and its customers is contemptible, but it does make a sick sort of business sense: Why not use legislation to win what you can in the marketplace? And it tells us who the real villain is here: a federal government that is big enough and powerful enough to absolutely, positively guarantee that it can crush any business overnight."

I wrote about this skirmish back in June, with a similar moral of the story:

Is it fair for FedEx and UPS to play by different rules? Is it fair to change the rules on FedEx in the middle of the game? Is the NLRA even fair?

Sadly, "fair competition," doesn't really play a role in shipping--an industry that has been subsidized and regulated since its birth. Federal law nearly prohibits UPS and FedEx from competing on price. Other regulations--including labor laws--cramp their ingenuity.

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Reader Comments

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Claude Hopper

Nov 11, 2009

I recently needed to ship some instruments to Sarawak, Malaysia (160 lbs). I checked one way shipping prices with UPS, FedEx and a private freight forwarder in Portland Oregon. The quotes were UPS, $2,500, FedEx $1,500 and the freight forwarder, $600. I used the latter.

Dave

Nov 11, 2009

The statement should read, "Why not use legislation to win what you can't in the marketplace."

Dougger

Nov 11, 2009

This fight is tangential to what started this whole thing.....

Notrhwest/Delta merger created the largest non-unionized airline in the country.

Linda Puchala was appointed to the National Mediation Board by Obama. She is the former international president of the Assn. of Flight Attendants (AFA).

Along with Harry Hoglander, a former TWA captain and Air Line Pilots Assn. (ALPA) bigshot who also serves on the board, she initiated the rule change as payback to the unions.

This NMB rule change does not require any legislation to enact. They are merely re-interpreting legislation that has been in existence for the last 75 years to the benefit of the airline workers unions.

Since Northwest employees just recently rejected unionization under the current rule, they are trying to get another bite at the apple.

coffee4closers

Nov 11, 2009

This issue begins and ends with one word: TEAMSTERS. This powerful union, one of the last powerful unions left in America,has finally got it's savior in our POTUS. LET FREE ENTERPRISE DECIDE WHO WINS AND LOSES, NOT THE LIBERAL, ANTI-CAPITALISTIC GANG IN THE WHITE HOUSE AND CONGRESS. GOOD LUCK FEDEX !!

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The FedEx-vs-UPS lobbying knife-fight

By: Timothy P. Carney
Examiner Columnist
11/10/09 4:55 PM EST