The Postal Service filed a lawsuit Dec. 23 against the Postal Regulatory Commission for the right to create a new product for DVD and disc mailings.
The agency wants the court to overturn the oversight body's decision that denied the Postal Service the ability to create a new product called the "Round Trip Mailer" specifically for mass, round-trip DVD mail for services such as Netflix or GameFly.
The agency wanted the new mailer to be a "competitive product" instead of a "market dominant product" – which is when the Postal Service controls most or a large portion of the market for that product. That would have given the Postal Service greater flexibility over pricing.
The Postal Service also argued that the mailing of DVDs competed with on-demand and direct download services, which would serve as a check against the Postal Service dominating the market.
But the PRC denied the request, saying that the Postal Service has too much market control over that category since no other company provided the mass shipping of DVDs and that digital services did not serve as a check against the agency's market power.
It is now up to the court to decide whether to take up the case and set a timeline for a possible decision.
