alexol wrote:
For anyone interested and hopefully to further the understanding of a number following this thread who clearly have no idea about international trade & pricing, that the US is not the epicenter of the planet, here's a detailed explanation of how the international postal system works. Not my explanation, copied from a gent on reddit. The info is about 6 years old but remains mostly accurate.
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There's this body called the UPU (Universal Postal Union), of which 192 countries are members (so basically everybody). The UPU is like the UN of postal services; they meet occasionally at a big congress and discuss policy and implementation. The UPU also works closely with the IATA (International Air Transport Association) as most mail moves between countries by air.
If you were shipping from the US to Germany, a tracking number would be generated for your package. It will make its way to one a city with a big international airport, like LA, Chicago, NYC, Miami etc. What happens behind the scenes is very complicated but I'll give you the gist. Your parcel will be "dispatched" to the destination airport, either directly or via a number of intermediate airports. All of this information is transferred electronically to the airline, the destination carrier and any intermediate ports. There need not be any prior notice, direct flight or any kind of clearance; you can dispatch a package anywhere in the world.
Until 1969, there wasn't any compensation between global carriers. It basically worked as a "You take our mail, we'll take yours" system. Of course, there wasn't any electronic data exchange either, so it was difficult to record and keep track of mail flow between countries.
In 1969, the Tokyo congress of the UPU implemented a system called Terminal Dues. This is how the destination country is compensated for its costs of transport and delivery. Although it was originally focussed on correcting imbalances (e.g. there is much more mail volume from the US to Canada than from Canada to the US), it is now focussed on targeting the actual cost of individual mail flows and compensating carriers accordingly (i.e. it is based on actual costs, not the difference in inbound and outbound volume).
Of course, a one-size-fits-all system isn't easy when you're coordinating 192 member nations. UPU members are classified differently based on their developmental status (e.g. LLDC = land-locked developing country); this, mail volume and a shit-tonne of other variables are taken into account when the TD rates are determined.
While the actual rates are not disclosed to the general public, I'd ballpark it at between 0.5 SDR/kg to 5 SDR/kg, with additional charges for registered items, insured items etc. Have you ever wondered how eBay sellers from China can sell you a small trinket for $3 shipped, but it costs you $20 to send the same thing back to China? Well the transport cost would be the same (0.554 SDR/tonne-km), but the terminal dues are wildly different.
Unfortunately, there are many agreements that override the terminal dues system. Although it's the same in principle, two countries that exchange significant mail volume (e.g. the US and Canada) have contracts that determine who pays for what, and how much; this is why in the terminal directory, CAYMQB (CA (Canada) YMQ (Montreal) B, for example) says "May be used only with bilateral agreement with Canada Post". The beauty of the UPU is that two member countries need not have agreements with each other, but mail can still be dispatched between them.
For anyone interested and hopefully to further the... (
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The UPU - we are going off on a tangent. But, the USA's participation in the UPU rates are negotiations. And the USA can charge higher or lower rates for each specific country shipping to the USA. The USPS 'gave' lower rates to developing countries - India, Vietnam, etc. after giving great prices to China some years before. - Point it, the USPS can raise the rates from China to pay for the cost of USA sorting, transportation, staffing, etc. all done in the USA to deliver a package. The overhead costs of the USPS should be the same for every item "handled", "carried" and "delivered" within the USA. This is about the cost of doing business expenses within the USA for all packages handled by the USPS. They should be equitable.
If you are offered a meeting with the USPS to discuss volume pricing discounts, the first thing the USPS rep does is require that you sign a "non-disclosure agreement" about any pricing/volume being discussed. They know that they do not want this information disclosed (or compared) by USA sellers using their services. The issue is the disparity of pricing for the same service from location "A" to location "Z" for any package of the same size/weight.