FedEx fined for knowingly transporting untaxed cigarettes.
- Thread starter Brownsocks
- Start date
Fred's Myth
Nonhyphenated American
It's all about the tax, NY could care less about the health consequences.
59 Dano
I just want to make friends!
FDX knows they got screwed. Cheaper and easier to pay the fine, and that's exactly what NY had in mind.
oldngray
nowhere special
One of their periodic shakedowns.
59 Dano
I just want to make friends!
All FedEx knew was that they picked up a package from an Indian reservation.
dezguy
Well-Known Member
So they had an idea but decided not to be certain they weren't transporting something they aren't supposed to.
I also like how the article says part of the agreement was punishing employees for transporting illegal cigarettes. So, the company can use the "we didn't know what was in the box" excuse but the driver is now supposed to play police officer.
Fred's Myth
Nonhyphenated American
You’re assuming the courier was held responsible. From what I read, it was management and possibly sales.
dezguy
Well-Known Member
The article stated that as part of the agreement and fines that employees are now to be punished for transporting items FedEx is not supposed to be transporting.
In other words, FedEx now has a scapegoat any time they want. Don't know about you, but I don't know what's in the box and don't want to know. That's above my pay grade.
It will be fine
Well-Known Member
Just start opening everything up and rifling through it before you load it. What could go wrong?
Fred's Myth
Nonhyphenated American
Couriers aren’t even allowed to open suspected illegal drug shipments, has to be manager or LE. The “workers” mentioned in the article would be those with prior knowledge of the illegal shipments. According to another article I read, it was sales and management who knew.
59 Dano
I just want to make friends!
That's how you read it? I read it as "There was an offer on the table that if we gave them x dollars and said what they wanted us to say then we could call it a day. We can go about delivering packages and they can turn a profit on illegal sales of cigarettes."
Because that's what happened. Initial lawsuit was $700 million and was settled for 5% of that and they recoup that lost tax revenue and then some... just like they did with Lasership. Lasership was sued for over $100 million for the same thing. Settled for $5 million. Lost tax revenue on the shipments in question? Less than $2 million.
It was a mere business decision by NY, nothing more and nothing less.
SmithBarney
Well-Known Member
I can't believe they rolled over on this... but same story with big pharma a few years back, and fedex stood strong on that one.
We can't police what people are selling and to whom, granted if you have a huge account named cheapocigarettesdirect inc. you probably should make sure it's legal.
59 Dano
I just want to make friends!
For one, this was a cheap payoff.
For two, the drug case so poor that the judge gave the prosecutors grief for even filing it, noting (among other things) that FedEx went above and beyond to work with authorities to combat the problem and that the government wouldn't cooperate.
For three, FDX couldn't afford for a precedent to be set. For example, Bill orders his pills from IllegalOptiates-R-Us.com, FedEx delivers them, and Bill OD's or commits a crime while under the influence - whatever. If FedEx had settled then they could have been held liable to some degree of whatever happened. There was no way in Hell they would have settled that one outside a of a guarantee that they would be immune to any liability, and even then they probably wouldn't have settled.
CJinx
Well-Known Member
My guess is somewhere along the line, someone caught wind of what was going on and should have done something about it, but didn't and now it looks like the company knew and is complicit in the transfer of untaxed cigarettes... likely because someone or a bunch of someones were too lazy to do the right thing.
Now they talk a big game speaking up whenever you find or suspect tobacco products are being transported... most of them have been eliminated, but only a handful of shipper numbers are still permitted to do so (mostly Dollar General accounts).
Now they talk a big game speaking up whenever you find or suspect tobacco products are being transported... most of them have been eliminated, but only a handful of shipper numbers are still permitted to do so (mostly Dollar General accounts).
Similar threads
