Neutral Network Shipping Inc.

Neutral Network Shipping Inc.

Lets say that I create a shipping company called Neutral Network Shipping Inc. To simplify things let’s say I setup bases in the nation’s 10 biggest cities, I buy enough planes for each city to send one plane to each of my other bases every night.  Things start small and are initially going well.

 

But as the business grows I notice that there are more shipments from New York to Boston then  the plane I have traveling that route can handle.  To keep my shipping network completely neutral I would have to add an additional plane to each and every one of my routes, weather they needed the increased capacity or not.   

Let’s say I choose to add another plane to the NY-Boston route and charge them a bit more for the faster service. With two planes the capacity is doubled and the shipments reach their destination faster.  The F.S.C. (Federal Shipping Commission) would then step and say that I’m giving preferential treatment to the NY – Boston route and that I was breaking the rules of my shipping network neutrality.

 

I fight the decision and take it to the Supreme Court and in the end they side with me and say that I should be able to grow my network to increase the routes in higher demand areas. This would be the an analogy of the decision that SCOTUS made in January. This allow my shipping  company to grow in the areas where it is needed the most.

Now let’s say that a slower route, say Dallas to Miami only fills up 25% of the plane with cargo and I decide that I want to use that plane for the New York –Boston route three nights and every fourth day fly a fully loaded plane from Miami to Dallas as opposed to a plane that only 25% full every day.  Even if only one package is going from Dallas to Miami the F.S.C. (Federal Shipping Commission) says that I cannot reduce traffic to any existing routes. So everyday a plane must fly even if there is only one package on it.  Now that I have control of my shipping network I’m free to expand it an areas that need expanding but I’m not allowed to reduce the volume to any existing routes.  This is what the F.C.C. is currently proposing rules that would make it illegal for providers to reduce or limit network traffic in any way.  But they can still expand it in areas that need it the most (well with a hefty fee to the shipper).