USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)
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Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)
#2And the fun thing is that USPS is probably often funded by government debt too. The US economy has been running a trade deficit since the 1980s at least and we went off the gold standard in 1971.
Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)
#3> The USPS inspector general’s office estimated that the USPS lost $79 million in fiscal year 2013 delivering this foreign treaty mail.
$79M is governmental chickenfeed, given how much this service improves the quality of life of its citizens. For perspective, it's moderately less than the cost of one (1) F35.
Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)
#4In Australia it seems that USPS is charging us millions on imports from The US to discourage us buying anything from the US
Small items can be a fraction of the cost of the freight from the US.
Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)
#5> All of this is little comfort to McGrath, who chafes at the thought of the Postal Service helping Chinese merchants poach his customers. “All of us sellers are selling a lot of Chinese goods in America but at least we’re creating jobs, making money, and adding to the economy,” he said. “But when people buy direct from China that’s adding nothing to the American economy.”
I understand the seller's frustration - their means of supporting themselves has been taken away, but I'm not sure I buy the argument that we need the intermediary just to "add to the economy". To me it just seems like an unsustainable business model that was destined to die once global communication became much easier, not just because of the various treaties and agreements of postal services.
The moment that chinese sellers could get a site available to a global audience, the need for an intermediary vanished; before you essentially paid for the connection; an extra $18 on a remote controlled toy boat was paying for access to the seller's inventory, supplied by his Chinese connections.
Now, there's no need for that connection or that warehouse - the visibility for any foreign seller is much greater, even to the point that it probably would still be valuable even without the USPS trade deal.
It's unfortunate, but this just seems like a model that was destined to die.
Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)
#6> All of this is little comfort to McGrath, who chafes at the thought of the Postal Service helping Chinese merchants poach his customers. “All of us sellers are selling a lot of Chinese goods in America but at least we’re creating jobs, making money, and adding to the economy,” he said. “But when people buy direct from China that’s adding nothing to the American economy.” I understand the seller's frustration - thei…
All middle men are destined to be automated out by the system, if they add no value then sooner rather than later. However, people selling stuff online in niche markets are still somehow surviving, but sooner or later someone will figure out where they are hiding and get them too. It's all a matter of time.
Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)
#7I often thought the postal service SHOULD be a public service but it's publicly funded at a loss then no.
Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)
#8Australia Post has long had the same problem with shipments from the US.
They've recently opened a warehouse in Oregon, where they'll receive domestic US shipments, and deliver to you in Australia for a separate fee. https://shopmate.auspost.com.au
Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)
#9And the fun thing is that USPS is probably often funded by government debt too. The US economy has been running a trade deficit since the 1980s at least and we went off the gold standard in 1971.
They also control the currency and as a result eat up a few percentage of global gdp via signorage.
Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)
#10> The USPS inspector general’s office estimated that the USPS lost $79 million in fiscal year 2013 delivering this foreign treaty mail. $79M is governmental chickenfeed, given how much this service improves the quality of life of its citizens. For perspective, it's moderately less than the cost of one (1) F35.
honestly it easily adds a few billion to the aggregate pockets of consumers who don't have to go through middle men.