Now Obama targets your FedEx, UPS packages

It appears as though the administration aims to deputize FedEx and UPS by "requiring" them to police packages and to inspect them accordingly. Hmmm... That does not seem right does it?

The Obama administration is demanding the nation’s two biggest shipping companies police the contents of Americans’ sealed packages, and a FedEx spokesman is warning that the move “has the potential to threaten the privacy of all customers that send or receive packages.”

FedEx and UPS are in the Justice Department’s cross-hairs for not flagging shipments of illegally prescribed drugs the companies say they had no way of knowing were in their possession.

Criminal charges could be coming against the carriers, even though the government has not alleged any deliberate wrongdoing by the companies.

FedEx spokesman Patrick Fitzgerald said his company has a 40-year history of actively assisting the government crackdown on any criminal conduct, but he told WND this probe was very different from the start.

The crux

“What is unusual and really disturbing is it became clear to us along the way that FedEx was being targeted for some level criminal activity as it relates to these medicines that are being shipped from pharmacies, and we find it to be completely absurd because it’s really not our role,” Fitzgerald said. “We have no way of knowing what is legal and not within the packages that we’re picking up and delivering in this situation.”

“At the heart of the investigation are sealed packages that are being sent by, as far as we can tell, licensed pharmacies. These are medicines with legal prescriptions written by licensed physicians. So it’s difficult for us to understand where we would have some role in this. We are a transportation company that picks up and delivers close to 10 million packages every day. They are sealed packages, so we have no way of knowing specifically what’s inside and we have no interest in violating the privacy rights of our customers,” Fitzgerald said.

In addition to the unrealistic expectation that the federal government seems to have for the companies to know what’s in every package, Fitzgerald said protecting the rights of customers is paramount and the issues go hand-in-hand.

Nothing is sacred, not even your 3 month supply of Zocor from Caremark

Assigning these companies the role of law enforcer is simply way out of bounds and the Administration is not interested in working anything out with FedEx. Not Surprising!!

FedEx sought to diffuse the standoff by offering to stop doing business with any pharmacies that the government suspected to be involved in illegal activities. The Justice Department declined, citing the potential for the pharmacies to sue over a lack of due process.

“If the government were to come to us and give us the name of a customer that’s engaged in some level of illegal activity, we can immediately stop shipping for that customer. We will not tolerate any illegal activity within our networks,” Fitzgerald said. “What we want here is a solution that will apply for the entire industry and serve the public’s interest. That’s why we find it completely absurd and, to a large degree, stunning that the government is not working with us on that solution as they have with other problems in the past. As long as they’re not doing that, there’s really no solution even if they were to pursue an investigation or criminal charges against a specific company. There needs to be an industry-wide solution that will put a stop to this problem.”

Did I mention NO Cooperation from the Govt?

That leaves FedEx and UPS with the task of stopping illegal shipments from sources the government will not divulge.

“The comparison that we’ve made is a no-fly list. It’s as if the government were to go to major commercial airlines and accuse them of some level of criminal activity if they were to allow somebody on the no-fly list onto one of their planes without providing them a no-fly list,” Fitzgerald said. “What we want here is the no-fly list for online pharmacies. If they are aware of some level of illegal activity by some number of pharmacies, simply provide us that list and we will stop providing service. It’s a very simple solution.”

Very simple indeed. Now its online pharmacies.... what's next?

Read more at www.wnd.com...

Jeeze... ANY basis for more Federal regulation and power grab to that level of power. Let's just save all this B.S. and dancing around. We'll fold all the states into a federal power structure and roll the state police of every one of them into the new National Police Force he would seem to be very busy building under the auspices of the DHS.

Enough Enough Enough. Our packages are NONE of his federal business as something to screen on the ASSUMPTION to guilt to be proven innocent BY inspection. This clown just does not get even the most BASIC of principles when it comes to due process, limited federal power and SOME sense of probable cause before anyone in Government or at their direction violates what we like to call the 4th amendment.

Of course..I keep referring to the Constitution like it means a thing anymore. It seems to be the toilet paper of choice in some offices anymore. (deep sigh)

Originally posted by jibeho


Very simple indeed. Now its online pharmacies.... what's next?

What's next is they start targeting the natural supplements industry. They want to make shipping companies afraid to ship anything that might have a pill bottle inside.

There are already moves to make even natural supplements available by prescription only. The government wants to control everything that goes into our bodies to make sure we get our daily dose of poison to ensure we don't live long enough to become a burden on the taxpayers.

Why is this a problem? hasnt the government been screening packages for illegal drugs/weapons since.....forever?

Originally posted by MastaShake
Why is this a problem? hasnt the government been screening packages for illegal drugs/weapons since.....forever?

The Federal Government threatening to criminally prosecute companies because something may or may not be within sealed packages they can't open..or expected to open, just to peek? That is new. Entirely new. as the OP article states, this is more of the "New Government".

It's not even trying to work with then, as has been the history. It's just another command from 'on-high'. 'You *WILL* do this, as we command it or you will fall by Federal law.'

Yeah... Nice free friggin country we have here these days. What new commands will tomorrow bring?

(With the theft that happens in the package industry now, by the way, the LAST thing I want is Government orders FORCING them to take a personal interesting in meddling with even MORE packages..but of course no order from Uncle Sam can ever be a bad idea or have bad outcomes.. Naww.. They walk on water. :shk: )

seems like they are trying to take out their competition . seeing how the u.s.p.s has been in the red for years and their is no way out , they are going to force their private competitors to lose customers. direct them to the u.s.p.s parcel delivery . gotta love transparency

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


The govt. won't even give them a list of companies to look out for but still expect them to catch the bad stuff. They are shifting the Onus to the middle man courier.

I find this part to be very interesting.

Fitzpatrick said no other private carriers are being targeted by the Justice Department, and he has no evidence to suggest this probe is designed to boost the financially strapped U.S. Postal Service at the expense of private competitors.

UPS is currently negotiating a settlement with the government, but FedEx is fighting this all the way.

“Settlement is not an option for us when there’s no illegal activity on our part,” Fitzpatrick said.

No other private carriers are being targeted. What about Quasi public carriers like USPS. Are they already in the business of inspecting these packages?

FedEx plans to fight this all the way. I hope they win because this action by the govt. is clearly crossing the line.

Read more at www.wnd.com...

Originally posted by jibeho
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

The govt. won't even give them a list of companies to look out for but still expect them to catch the bad stuff. They are shifting the Onus to the middle man courier.

I find this part to be very interesting.

Fitzpatrick said no other private carriers are being targeted by the Justice Department, and he has no evidence to suggest this probe is designed to boost the financially strapped U.S. Postal Service at the expense of private competitors.

UPS is currently negotiating a settlement with the government, but FedEx is fighting this all the way.

“Settlement is not an option for us when there’s no illegal activity on our part,” Fitzpatrick said.

No other private carriers are being targeted. What about Quasi public carriers like USPS. Are they already in the business of inspecting these packages?

FedEx plans to fight this all the way. I hope they win because this action by the govt. is clearly crossing the line.

Read more at www.wnd.com...

I found this section most interesting...

FedEx sought to diffuse the standoff by offering to stop doing business with any pharmacies that the government suspected to be involved in illegal activities. The Justice Department declined, citing the potential for the pharmacies to sue over a lack of due process.

Government only worried about covering its own rear. Not concerned at all about potential lawsuits towards the carriers.

reply to post by jibeho


If they put pressure on FedEx ad UPS, then the only alternative is the USPS.

There's something "illegalish" about the whole thing.

Wow this is nuts. I cannot believe that the government would stoop to this kind of bullying. Kudos to Fedex for standing up and not letting big brother push them around. I think I'm going to use Fedex for my shipping needs and I don't even need to ship illegal things. Forget UPS, those bums just roll over when big bad government comes a knocking.

Is there any question as to why this is taking place?

Pharmaceutical companies, which develop both over-the-counter and prescription drugs, have been among the biggest political spenders for years. While the industry has traditionally supported Republican candidates, some key players have recently increased donations to Democratic candidates as the GOP’s power in Washington erodes.

They wish to create a walled garden.

reply to post by jibeho


I smell something...fishy and rotten,
I think this has something do to with Obamacare!

UPS is union (teamsters). So the government is offering them a deal.

Fedex is non-union, non "employee owned." So this will take them out. They lost a 2009 suit that the government was favoring UPS in its decisions regarding unionized aviation workers and their right to strike, unionize etc. Fedex called it a "bailout", which most agreed was too harsh of a label.

This is the government punishing them for giving donations to conservative congressional candidates, as well as liberal ones. (UPS only contributes to democrats).

Cannot find the source any more but I do remember one of the promises made by the administration to the drug companies was they would come down on overseas pharmacies. I see this as a way to achieve that goal, no mail carriers to deliver ie- no cheap prescription drugs.

Here's my experience on this:

And let me preface this with, I am not an expert, lawyer, etc, so I could be wrong... As far as I understand things, if you ship something with the US Postal Service (since it is a government entity), a warrant/probable cause is required to open/inspect a package. Where as with UPS/FedEx they can open any package they please since they are a private company and you agree to their terms when you ship with them.

I worked for UPS for about a year, and one night we had a package that had hazardous material markings (ORM-D; Other Regulated Materials - Dangerous), but didn't have the required documents to ship this type of material. If I remember correctly it was a hairspray box that appeared to be reused... This package was opened to ensure that there were no hazardous materials present. They just so happened to find a brick of marijuana inside and contacted the police...

It seems to me that the government is looking for private companies to do their policing for them...

Moral of the the story, if you are doing something shady, use USPS and make sure you don't re-use hairspray boxes...

Originally posted by FortAnthem

Originally posted by jibeho


Very simple indeed. Now its online pharmacies.... what's next?

What's next is they start targeting the natural supplements industry. They want to make shipping companies afraid to ship anything that might have a pill bottle inside.

There are already moves to make even natural supplements available by prescription only. The government wants to control everything that goes into our bodies to make sure we get our daily dose of poison to ensure we don't live long enough to become a burden on the taxpayers.

The targeting has already begun. Codex Alimentarius is the attack, and its been under way for some while.

This is just another faze of the attack.

This is crazy.. But then again, FedEX are crooks...

I ordered an Alienware PC waayy back when dell didn't own them, and it was THE best PC at the time 2002 I think.. anyway, FedEX opened the box and stole the video card.. ($500). Alienware paid to send back the PC and gave me the missing card, and overnighted it using UPS.

Another time, with Newegg.. ordered a Geforce card, it was 'the best of the best' at the time 4 years ago.. I get the box.. pick it up, and its weight was waaaay too light... open it up, no card..

called newegg, and they said they have had issues with FedEX as of late, so they overnighted me the same card, no questions asked.. I LOVE THEM!

So, since then, I will NEVER AGAIN use FedEX. they are crooks... well, at least they have lots of crooks working there...

I love UPS anyway, their HQ is here in Louisville, Ky!

reply to post by GMan420



I was under the impression that you cannot sue the government. What is going on here?

reply to post by jibeho


So much for the right to no unwarranted search and seizure.....but then, they have been working on that one for some time now!

I can't help but wonder how the drug seizure laws will come into play here. After all, they need only an accusation to take all you own.

Can anyone else see this as setting a precedent for policing encrypted file sharing?
I wouldn't be surprised...