Affordable Shipping for All Act takes on unfair shipping practices

U.S. Rep. Ed Case, a Hawai‘i Democrat, recently reintroduced legislation to end what he calls “discriminatory and exclusionary” shipping practices faced by residents and businesses in non-contiguous states and U.S. territories.

Those places include Hawai‘i, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and other U.S. territories.

“This blatant discrimination and exclusion is illustrated by Hawai‘i, my home state,” said Case. “We are over 2,500 miles from the West Coast and depend on shipping to bring in more than 90% of the products we need. Like our other non-contiguous family, we do not have the same manufacture, transport and delivery options as does the contiguous continental [United States].”

Case said the Affordable Shipping for All Act, or House Resolution 380, will make sure shipping companies, including the U.S. Postal Service, cannot charge discriminatory rates or exclude non-contiguous areas of the nation from receiving shipments.

It will also require that shipping fees for non-contiguous areas reflect the actual cost of service instead of arbitrary price increases.

Case said there are four persistent and unfair shipping practices that drive up costs and make life harder for millions of Americans in non-contiguous areas:

Shipping refusal

“First, as confirmed by the Federal Trade Commission, many online retailers outright refuse to ship basic products our parts of the United States, effectively treating our areas as if we are foreign countries,” Case said.

This exclusion prevents millions of Americans from even accessing essential goods.

No free shipping option

“Second, even when retailers do offer shipping to the non-contiguous areas, they frequently deny customers free shipping options, even though such options are readily available for customers in the contiguous [United States],” Case said. “This is true even when the actual cost of shipping from the continental [United States] to a non-contiguous area is higher than to another location in the continental [United States].”

That leaves residents in non-contiguous areas at a distinct disadvantage when trying to purchase products online.

Inflated and unreasonable prices

“Third, when private shipping services are made available, the prices are often inflated and bear no reasonable relation to the actual distance,” Case said.

For example, the Congressman said the cost to ship a 2-pound package from Los Angeles to Hawai‘i can exceed $45, while the same package from Los Angeles to New York City, the same distance, costs only $14.

“This price disparity is both unreasonable and unjust,” Case said.

U.S. Postal Service doesn’t provide equal access

“Fourth, the United States Postal Service also treats the non-contiguous areas unfairly,” Case added.

He said the postal service recently created a new Zone 10 for shipments to Hawai‘i, Alaska and other non-contiguous areas that increases shipping rates for Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail and USPS Ground Advantage packages to and from those locations by 5%.

“The introduction of Zone 10 fundamentally discriminates against the non-contiguous parts of our country, which runs directly counter to the foundational USPS charge to provide equal access to the U.S. mail,” Case said.

Guam U.S. Rep. James Moylan is co-lead on legislation, with co-sponsors U.S. Reps. Pablo José Hernández Rivera of Puerto Rico, Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa and Kimberly King-Hinds of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

You can read the full text of the Affordable Shipping for All Act online.

Moylan said all non-contiguous areas are at a severe disadvantage with domestic shipping.

“I fully support this bill as it represents a step in the right direction in solving maritime disparities in the [United States],” said the Congressman from Guam.