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USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)

washingtonpost.com

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Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)

#31

Post by sdiepend »

csydas wrote: post #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 - thei…

I guess local sellers should try to add value by providing support, warranty and other things on top of the product.

Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)

#32

Post by dmoo »

andrewf wrote: post #8

Australia 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

The Irish Post Office is now offering something similar for items bought in the Uk/USA You get a 'fake' Address in these countries and then all of the items are shipped together to ireland before being delivered.

https://addresspal.anpost.ie/

Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)

#33

Post by dis-sys »

Now this is boring. People keep complaining about the fact that China's cheap stuff is flooding the US market. How about exporting some expensive US made stuff to China to close the gap of trading?

Oh, you can't. Chinese living in China are not even allowed to buy Intel Xeon Phi cards, export license is required to safeguard your nation.

Maybe make the US short term visa more accessible to Chinese tourists so they can spend more cash in the US?

Oh, you can't. tens of millions Chinese with science/engineering degrees will have to go through the mantis check managed by FBI to make sure they won't steal your nuke techs when visiting the casinos in Vegas. It can take up to several years to get a US tourist visa.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_Advisory_Opinion

Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)

#34

Post by danellis »

Brotkrumen wrote: post #20
jlebrech wrote: post #7

I often thought the postal service SHOULD be a public service but it's publicly funded at a loss then no.

Think of it this way: every one of the 350 million americans chip in 0.22$ a year to get their iPhone cable for 1.80$ instead of 40$. Still sound bad?

Why do some people write the dollar sign after the number? Similarly, why do some people write the percent sign before the number? I initially thought it might be a locale thing (like swapping commas and decimal points), but I've seen a lot of Americans doing it too.

Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)

#35

Post by throwanem »

vacri wrote: post #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.

I don't actually disagree, but comparing this to the biggest military procurement boondoggle in US history seems like setting a somewhat low bar.

That said - again, you're quite right that we're getting a lot more for our money spent with USPS. Surely there have to be less expensive and more worthwhile ways, than the F-35 project, to run a jobs program!

Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)

#36

Post by new299 »

csydas wrote: post #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 - thei…

I'd agree intermediaries aren't really adding anything of value.

The problem is however, even in cases when you can produce something as cheaply in the US as in China, a Chinese seller can still beat you on price because they pay less for shipping.

And that seems dumb.

Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)

#37

Post by soneil »

danellis wrote: post #34
Brotkrumen wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think of it this way: every one of the 350 million americans chip in 0.22$ a year to get their iPhone cable for 1.80$ instead of 40$. Still sound bad?

Why do some people write the dollar sign after the number? Similarly, why do some people write the percent sign before the number? I initially thought it might be a locale thing (like swapping commas and decimal points), but I've seen a lot of Americans doing it too.

For currency, I think it's just a mental consistency. I type 1%, I say one percent. I type $1, I say dollar one?

I understand it's not correct at all. But I can internally justify why people type "1$" when they're thinking "one dollar".

Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)

#38

Post by pulse7 »

new299 wrote: post #36
csydas wrote: post #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 - thei…

I'd agree intermediaries aren't really adding anything of value. The problem is however, even in cases when you can produce something as cheaply in the US as in China, a Chinese seller can still beat you on price because they pay less for shipping. And that seems dumb.

Many small shipments across the ocean are costlier than one large shipment which is then distributed locally. USPS (and other national postal services across the world) will need to increase the prices for those small shipments and make profit out of it. I can only guess that in addition to this huge quantity discounts the shipments are subsidized by the Chinese government to accelerate export. US and other countries should learn from them...

Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)

#39

Post by jpalomaki »

devoply wrote: post #6
csydas wrote: post #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 - 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.

In this case small players can have advantages that big players don't. For example should I start shipping container loads of fidget spinners (latest thing among the youth here) from China to Finland I would have all kinds of things to take care of. User manuals, product safety issues, customs, local value added tax, consumer protection things etc. Small sellers operating from China can escape many of these.

Re: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014)

#40

Post by csydas »

new299 wrote: post #36
csydas wrote: post #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 - thei…

I'd agree intermediaries aren't really adding anything of value. The problem is however, even in cases when you can produce something as cheaply in the US as in China, a Chinese seller can still beat you on price because they pay less for shipping. And that seems dumb.

Well, wouldn't the tradeoff there be time? In the past when I've ordered products from China or Korea, the tradeoff for free or $.99 shipping was that I had to wait two weeks. I do remember some shops had started keeping local warehouses for faster shipping times, so it seems like the foreign sellers are coming at it from both ways; they will ship small parcels that take awhile to arrive, or they'll send locally and eat the shipping costs.

I'm not convinced at the moment that it's the shipping alone that is causing the issue with the US sellers, especially given the limitations of the cheap shipping agreement (under 4.4 lbs I believe it said).

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