Q: Is it legal to set up a local mail delivery service which competes with USPS?
USPS has plans to send all Reno mail through Sacramento. This plan even includes local mail within Reno. This would open up an opportunity for some local competition, if only federal law allowed it. I understand that others have challenged this law and were unsuccessful. Has anything changed since then?
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A:
It is generally not legal to set up a local mail delivery service that competes directly with the United States Postal Service (USPS). The USPS has a legal monopoly on the delivery of first-class mail, as established by the Private Express Statutes (PES) under U.S. Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 83, § 1696.
These statutes prohibit anyone from establishing, operating, or providing any service that delivers letters for compensation on regular routes or schedules. There are some exceptions, such as urgent letters with a higher price of at least six times the current rate for first-class mail or letters delivered by the sender.
To my knowledge, there have been no significant changes to the Private Express Statutes that would allow for direct competition with the USPS in terms of first-class mail delivery. Some companies, like FedEx and UPS, compete with the USPS in the delivery of packages and express mail, but they are not allowed to deliver regular first-class mail.
While the USPS's plan to route Reno mail through Sacramento may be inconvenient, it does not change the legal landscape that prohibits direct competition with the USPS in terms of first-class mail delivery. Challenging these laws would likely require legislative action by Congress to amend or repeal the Private Express Statutes.
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