I always said that this stock was a bad bet — because the company did not control its own destiny.

And yesterday, that fact hit home for employees of ABX Air and ASTAR Air Cargo, as Deutsche Post, parent of DHL,  announced that it had, for all purposes, given up the fight to set up its own competing delivery service here in the U.S.

The company has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in trying to establish DHL as a credible third option to UPS and FedEx. Yesterday, the company’s parent, Deutsche Post World Net, said at a press conference in Bonn that it is going to partner with UPS for all of its air shipments and sorting operations in what it called a “radical” shake-up of it’s U.S. operations.

The hard and cold facts for employees of ABX Air? More than 6000 employees will lose their jobs, including a good number of pilots.

Someone needs to write a book about the FedEx-DHL-UPS saga from start to finish. Would make a great read. I would, however, hate to think how much money all three players have expended over the last 15 years or so — fighting each other in court almost continuously over the right of DHL to enter the U.S. domestic market.

Know anyone that would like to buy 39 DC-9s?

Ticker: (Nasdaq:ATSG)