Notice2024-24398
Addition of New Market Dominant Product: “Connect Local Mail”
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
October 22, 2024
Issuing agencies
Postal Service
Abstract
The Postal Service gives notice its request to convert an experimental product to a permanent offering in accordance with statutory requirements.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 204 (Tuesday, October 22, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 204 (Tuesday, October 22, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 84405-84406]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-24398]
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POSTAL SERVICE
Addition of New Market Dominant Product: ``Connect Local Mail''
AGENCY: Postal Service<SUP>TM</SUP>.
ACTION: Notice of request to convert experimental product to a
permanent offering.
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SUMMARY: The Postal Service gives notice its request to convert an
experimental product to a permanent offering in accordance with
statutory requirements.
DATES: October 22, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sean C. Robinson, 202-268-8405.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The United States Postal Service hereby
gives notice pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 3642(d)(1) that it plans to add a
new product to the market dominant product list based on the
experimental product ``Connect Local Mail'' on January 1, 2025. On
October 3, 2024, the Postal Service filed with the Postal Regulatory
Commission a request setting out the basis for the Postal Service's
determination that the new product meets the criteria established under
39 U.S.C. 3642(b), as discussed below. Documents are available at
<a href="http://www.prc.gov">www.prc.gov</a>, Docket No. MC2025-19.
Connect Local Mail is properly classified as a market dominant
price category under chapter 36 of title 39 of the United States Code
and is consistent with the applicable criteria of the chapter. Firms
offering products similar to Connect Local Mail are sufficiently
distinguishable that the Postal Service believes Connect Local Mail
operates largely in a distinct market unto itself. Moreover, Connect
Local Mail is currently subject to the letter monopoly, and hence must
be categorized as market dominant for that reason.
Connect Local Mail is designed for the local delivery of documents,
fitting into the definition of ``letter'' under 39 CFR 310.1 as a
``message directed to a specific person or address and recorded in or
on a tangible object.'' A private express established for the
conveyance of such documents for compensation at the established price
point would be prohibited under 18 U.S.C. 1696(a). Therefore, Connect
Local Mail, like the other price categories under First-Class Mail, is
covered by the postal monopoly reserved to the Postal Service under 18
U.S.C. 1696.
The Postal Service views potential substitutes for Connect Local
Mail to be local couriers and messengers delivering documents,
overnight and/or 2-day delivery services offered by large national
competitors, and smaller companies that deliver documents on an
expedited basis. Connect Local Mail will not create an unfair or
inappropriate advantage for the Postal Service compared to other small
businesses in this space, such as local courier services. Local courier
services typically build in pick-up on demand services, which justify a
higher price and differentiate their services from Connect Local Mail.
Connect Local Mail
[[Page 84406]]
is in line-of-travel for pick-up and drop-off; there is no direct end-
to-end transport offered by Connect Local Mail, and it is therefore not
as responsive or customizable as a local courier service. In many ways,
Connect Local Mail also offers same-day delivery on a more limited
basis than a local courier service. It is better suited to businesses
who regularly schedule local deliveries (such as mailing bills to their
customers), allowing them to plan to meet the requirements for Connect
Local Mail (e.g., drop-off at a designated entry unit by the Critical
Entry Time, mail prepared in time for carrier pick-up in their line-of-
travel). It is not as well suited to the type of ad hoc document
delivery that courier services specialize in.
Sean C. Robinson,
Attorney, Corporate and Postal Business Law.
[FR Doc. 2024-24398 Filed 10-21-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710-12-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on October 22, 2024.
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