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Bill seeking equal shipping treatment for Hawaii and US territories reintroduced in Congress

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By Pacific Island Times News Staff

 

 

U.S. Rep. Ed Case this week announced the reintroduction of a bill seeking to end what he called “the discriminatory and exclusionary shipping practices” faced by residents living outside of the U.S. mainland.


Case said H.R. 380, the Affordable Shipping for All Act, would “ensure that no shipping company, including the United States Postal Service, can impose discriminatory rates or exclude non-contiguous areas from receiving shipments.”


The “discriminatory practices” affect residents of Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.

 

Case said the bill, if enacted, would require companies to set shipping rates for non-contiguous areas that reflect the actual costs of service, rather than arbitrary price increases.

 

Guam Del. James Moylan, the bill’s co-author, said H.R. 380 “represents a step in the right direction in solving maritime disparities in the U.S.”


He noted that Guam, like Hawaii, is “at a severe disadvantage in domestic shipping.”

 

The bill is cosponsored by Reps. Pablo José Hernández Rivera of Puerto Rico,

Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa, and Kimberly King-Hinds of the Northern Mariana Islands.

 

“We introduced legislation so that USPS and companies like Amazon, which 

sell products online, don’t charge more for shipping to Puerto Rico, Hawaii,

Alaska, and other jurisdictions outside the 48 contiguous states,” Rivera said.


Radewagen noted that the Pacific islands depend heavily  on shipping 

for goods, including basic necessities and construction materials. “Cost increases in shipping can severely impact family budgets,” she said.


 King-Hinds said one of the most significant challenges shared by those living outside the mainland is the unaffordable cost of goods and materials.


“In the Northern Marianas, the people I represent work hard to live lives comparable to their fellow Americans in the states, but the reality is that the very basic necessities of food, consumer goods, and essential materials

are far more expensive,” she said. “A dollar simply doesn’t stretch as far in non-contiguous areas as it does in the mainland.”


Case said residents and businesses of the non-contiguous U.S. face four persistent and unfair shipping practices that drive up costs and make life harder for millions of Americans.


First, many online retailers refuse to ship products to U.S. jurisdictions in the Pacific area, "effectively treating our areas as if we are foreign countries."


This practice was confirmed by the Federal Trade Commission, Case said.


Second, retailers that ship to non-contiguous areas do not offer free shipping options, which are available for customers in the contiguous U.S.


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," Case said.


Fourth, the U.S. Postal Service also "treats the non-contiguous areas unfairly," Case said, citing the recent creation of a new Zone 10 for shipments to Hawaii, 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 percent. 


"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.





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