- Media Central Direct Newsline - March 3, 1999
USPS Requests "Highly Sensitive" Commercial Data Stay Secret
By Paul M. Alberta
For the second time in a month the U.S. Postal Service told the Postal Rate Commission that it wants certain "highly sensitive commercial" information about its international postal operations kept secret.
Producing that information for public consumption, the USPS said, would "result in commercial harm" to itself, Canada Post, France's La Poste, its partners in Post E.C.S., an Internet-based document delivery service for direct marketers, and IPC, the service's computer software provider.
Disclosure of the information "would give competitors access to prices charged among the parties involved in the development and operation of the service," it added.
United Parcel Service of America Inc. and the Coalition Against Unfair USPS Competition (CAUUC) are challenging the service the USPS began offering last July, alleging it is being done without the approval of the USPS's Board of Governors or the PRC.
The USPS, repeating many of the same arguments it made last month when it sought to withhold much of the same information from the PRC for its first annual report to Congress on USPS international operations, asked the PRC for an "authoritative explanation" as to why it needs the information.
And the USPS said that if it is forced to provide that information it should be allowed to edit out financial data and what information it provides the PRC should sealed from public view.
Since Post E.C.S. "is still in pilot form," the USPS said its negotiating position with partners Canada Post, La Poste and IPC would "be seriously compromised by outright disclosure [of the data and] the negotiating positions of the parties could change dramatically as customer demand for products like Post E.C.S. service matures."
A decision on both secrecy requests is expected from the PRC by the end of the month.
