Case introduces congressional bill to end discriminatory shipping practices

Hawai‘i US Rep. Ed Case has reintroduced a bill in the US House to end what he called “the discriminatory and exclusionary shipping practices faced by residents and businesses in Hawai‘i, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and other US territories.”

Guam US Representative James Moylan is the co-lead on the measure, with co-sponsors US 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. Representatives from US territories are delegates to Congress, with votes in committee but not on the House floor.

Case said H.R. 380, the Affordable Shipping Act for All Act “will ensure that no shipping company, including the United States Postal Service, can impose discriminatory rates or exclude non-contiguous areas from receiving shipments. It will also require that shipping rates for non-contiguous areas reflect the actual cost of service, rather than arbitrary price increases.”

Case continued: “This blatant discrimination and exclusion is illustrated by Hawai‘i, my home state. 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 US.”

“Guam and Hawai‘i naturally share many similarities, but all non-contiguous areas are at a severe disadvantage in domestic shipping. I fully support this bill as it represents a step in the right direction in solving maritime disparities in the US,” Moylan said.

Case said that, rather than treating us equally, residents and businesses of the non-contiguous US face four persistent and unfair shipping practices that drive up costs and make life harder for millions of Americans:

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

“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 US. This is true even when the actual cost of shipping from the continental US to a non-contiguous area is higher than to another location in the continental US. This leaves residents in these areas at a distinct disadvantage when trying to purchase products online.

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

“Fourth, the United States Postal Service also treats the non-contiguous areas unfairly. It recently created a new Zone 10 for shipments to Hawai‘i, Alaska and other non-contiguous areas, which will increase 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 US mail.”

The text of the bill can be found by clicking here.

Rep. Case’s remarks on the bill: here.