Stevens, Young seek rural mail changes
WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young of Alaska want to redesign the way mail is handled in the Bush.
Some companies, however, say the proposed changes would hurt small carriers and overall service to rural Alaska. Other carriers that use both large and small planes say changes are necessary and that the congressional delegation's proposals would improve service in the Bush.
Last week, some of the smaller air carriers sent out a media packet objecting to the proposals. They said they feared that the delegation will attach the measures to a must-pass bill in the closing days of this session.
Stevens, a Republican, said he is trying to ensure that postal subsidies continue to prop up passenger and freight services in rural Alaska. He helped design the system to do that, he said, but it needs some adjustment.
"It was breaking down and the Postal Service was about to abandon it," Stevens said.
The backbone of the system is "bypass mail." That refers to shipments of 1,000 pounds or more are separated and packaged according to U.S. Postal Service rules, then dropped off with air carriers. The air carriers then deliver goods both to and in the villages. Generally, the system "bypasses" post offices, although the Postal Service in Fairbanks has formed a central dispatch dock at the airport station.
The customer pays parcel post, which is usually cheaper than air freight. The air carriers are reimbursed at a government-set rate designed to cover industry costs plus a profit margin.
The problem with the present system, Stevens said, is that some companies are flying the mail and collecting the subsidy, but aren't carrying many passengers or much freight. Stevens' concern is primarily directed to mail flown destined for smaller villages from such hubs as Galena, Bethel, Nome and Barrow.
About half of the smaller air carriers in Alaska proposed an alternative system after hearing about the delegation's interest in changes.
The carriers want a system that would direct 70 percent of the mail on a hub-to-village route to carriers that carry at least 20 percent of the passengers along that route. Carriers that handle freight would get a smaller share of the mail.
Fred Ciarlo, general manager of Tanana Air Service in Fairbanks, said the idea is unfair to companies like his that carry a lot of mail.
Ciarlo noted that much of the mail gets to Bush hubs through a half-dozen carriers that fly large planes along some of the routes, known as "mainlines." But following the small-carrier group's logic, only Alaska Airlines should get any bypass mail because it's the only mainline air carrier that offers passenger service, Ciarlo said.
Other mainline carriers are Air Cargo Express, Northern Air Cargo, Alaska Central Express, Era Aviation and Lynden Air Cargo.
Currently, bypass mail is evenly distributed between carriers. When people who want to ship bypass call the Postal Service, they are directed to the eligible carrier with the current lowest total weight dispatched. To be eligible, a carrier must fly to a destination at least three times per week.
Young, a Republican, in a bill filed in July, proposed changing the law so only mainline carriers would be eligible to carry bypass mail to hubs - and only mainliners that were working as of Jan. 1 this year. He also proposed making carriers eligible even if they flew only once a week.