US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty • Hacker News Board

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#21

Post by pishpash » Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 5:58 AM UTC

nakedrobot2 wrote: post #3

This is absolutely a good idea. Whoever thought it would be advantageous for packages from China to cost less to ship than equivalent packages within the USA, is beyond me. I hope there are positive economic and environmental results from this move. What will be the unintended consequences I wonder?

Unintended consequence: eBay stock plummets tomorrow. (Maybe.)

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#22

Post by pishpash » Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 5:59 AM UTC

adrr wrote: post #15

devoply wrote: post #4

Say goodbye to AliExpress in the US. This will more or less kill the business model that AliExpress relies on in the US for most cheap products.

Also ebay and etsy have significant China-based Merchants.

Amazon won't be spared, either.

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#23

Post by megaremote » Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 5:59 AM UTC

I bought a button from China for 3 cents once, after reading an article about it. This is too Australia. The package was worth more than that here.

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#24

Post by nostromo » Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 5:59 AM UTC

plugger wrote: post #5

nakedrobot2 wrote: post #3

This is absolutely a good idea. Whoever thought it would be advantageous for packages from China to cost less to ship than equivalent packages within the USA, is beyond me. I hope there are positive economic and environmental results from this move. What will be the unintended consequences I wonder?

> Whoever thought it would be advantageous for packages from China to cost less to ship than equivalent packages within the USA, is beyond me. As a consumer I think it's advantageous. I'd much prefer to pay no shipping when compared to paying significant amounts for shipping, regardless of where the package originates.

You’re paying the costs, just indirectly via taxes and artificially higher US shipping costs.

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#25

Post by chaostheory » Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 5:59 AM UTC

plugger wrote: post #5

nakedrobot2 wrote: post #3

This is absolutely a good idea. Whoever thought it would be advantageous for packages from China to cost less to ship than equivalent packages within the USA, is beyond me. I hope there are positive economic and environmental results from this move. What will be the unintended consequences I wonder?

> Whoever thought it would be advantageous for packages from China to cost less to ship than equivalent packages within the USA, is beyond me. As a consumer I think it's advantageous. I'd much prefer to pay no shipping when compared to paying significant amounts for shipping, regardless of where the package originates.

Aren't we still paying for shipping through taxes, since the USPS is a public institution?

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#26

Post by onion2k » Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 6:00 AM UTC

nakedrobot2 wrote: post #3

This is absolutely a good idea. Whoever thought it would be advantageous for packages from China to cost less to ship than equivalent packages within the USA, is beyond me. I hope there are positive economic and environmental results from this move. What will be the unintended consequences I wonder?

What will be the unintended consequences I wonder?

Small businesses who use dropshipping direct from Chinese companies will stop being able to compete with big businesses who buy in bulk and ship from US warehouses. This will benefit the likes of Amazon more than anyone else.

Not sure if that's an unintended consequence though.

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#27

Post by colechristensen » Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 6:01 AM UTC

paulsutter wrote: post #7

godzillabrennus wrote: post #2

A friend helped the Wall Street Journal expose the damage this treaty was doing to his small business in the United States as it tried to fend off counterfeiters. https://www.wsj.com/articles/this-subsidy-for-china-is-dumb-... Seems like a win for American innovation if you care about that thing. Seems like China is going to get hurt by this change which is bad for globalization if you are into that thing.

Globalization is about an even playing field, not one-sided concessions and subsidies

The idea of free trade/globalization is everyone benefiting from the efficiency of each place doing the work it can do most efficiently. Iowa corn and Swiss fine machinery and Arab oil and all sorts of things where one place can do something better and cheaper because of the nature of the place. Poverty (cheap labor) and treaties (cheap postage) shouldn't be the drivers of this efficiency because they aren't caused by fundamental differences, just political ones.

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#28

Post by dawnerd » Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 6:02 AM UTC

onion2k wrote: post #26

nakedrobot2 wrote: post #3

This is absolutely a good idea. Whoever thought it would be advantageous for packages from China to cost less to ship than equivalent packages within the USA, is beyond me. I hope there are positive economic and environmental results from this move. What will be the unintended consequences I wonder?

What will be the unintended consequences I wonder? Small businesses who use dropshipping direct from Chinese companies will stop being able to compete with big businesses who buy in bulk and ship from US warehouses. This will benefit the likes of Amazon more than anyone else. Not sure if that's an unintended consequence though.

Which isn’t a bad thing. Maybe we’ll see less spam drop shipped items on Amazon finally. eBay too.

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#29

Post by onion2k » Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 6:02 AM UTC

iask wrote: post #8

Finally!!! Moves like this will help small and medium businesses compete...finally we won’t have to pay 25.00 to mail a small book to China.

You'll still have to pay that price, but now a Chinese company will have to pay 25.00 to mail a small book to the US as well. This is just going to limit the sale of small goods internationally.

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#30

Post by adventured » Thu, Oct 18, 2018, 6:03 AM UTC

sschueller wrote: post #11

We have the same issue in Switzerland with cheap packages from China which are received as mail but do not fit through the automated sorting system. This requires a lot of manual labor which increases the costs for the postal service. This is why sometime this year people who receive such mail will be billed additional fees increasing slowly over the next few years. The treaty allows under developed nations to ship a…

It does require having to leave the treaty - if the UPU Congress refuses to reclassify China. The threat to leave, is meant to apply enough pressure to finally get that reclassification accomplished. They've been intentionally dragging their feet on this matter over time and they only meet under normal circumstances every four years (they can of course hold emergency sessions).

It's the exact same problem the US has had with the WTO, it has refused to do anything about China's dramatic state sponsored dumping for more than a decade. These are global bodies that are invalidating themselves by refusing to normalize rules for China now that they're a massive economic power.