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US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

bbc.com

61–70 of 380 posts

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#61

The headline made it sound sort of bad, but reading this and the WSJ article, it makes you wonder why it wasn’t done sooner.

Because it will make some goods much more expensive for everyone in the US. This can have unintended consequences.

True, but that’s frankly still a net positive side effect if you add climate change to your model.

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#62
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heavily dislike that america just leaves treaties it does not like instead of improving them. Most smaller countries cannot use the same method. If my country for instance were to do thay nobody would ship there any more because the billing system would be too complex and expensive and the market is just too small.

> Most smaller countries cannot use the same method. Sure, but America can, so why shouldn’t it?

Might is right.

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#63

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…

> This is why sometime this year people who receive such mail will be billed additional fees increasing slowly over the next few years.

Why are the people receiving the mail being billed extra when it is the sender failing compliance?

Shouldn't this be rolled into "shipping and handling" that the sender has to deal with?

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#64
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heavily dislike that america just leaves treaties it does not like instead of improving them. Most smaller countries cannot use the same method. If my country for instance were to do thay nobody would ship there any more because the billing system would be too complex and expensive and the market is just too small.

> Most smaller countries cannot use the same method. Sure, but America can, so why shouldn’t it?

there are a multitude of other ways, ways which are completely oblivious to the current administration as well as its supporters.

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#65

Not weighing in on if this is a good or bad thing overall, but I did listen to a pretty good NPR podcast a while back that explains a little more about this treaty and how it was affecting businesses in the US. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/08/01/634737852/epis...

I really liked that podcast as well. If I remember correctly, one take away from the podcast that is relevant to a lot of comments below was that the U.S. used to get a net benefit from the weird international mail system. It was more recently that the import/export by direct mail balance shifted to make it a net loss to the U.S. Though it didn't sound like who the net winners and losers would be was strongly considered when the system was designed.

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course you realize that this change will likely disproportionately affect the poor and middle-class (who will see a sharp rise in shipping costs) as well as smaller businesses who rely on thin margins to survive. The cost of $300 million per year as quoted in the article seems like peanuts compared to some of the other actions this administration has burdened tax payers with.

If you want to help poor people, subsidizing imports from China is a stupid way of going about it.

Generally speaking, continuing to kick the crutches out from under the lower classes is a bad idea especially when there are no better solutions being implemented.

You need to keep in mind that the postal treaty wasn't JUST for China either, almost every single nation was part of the postal treaty. Withdrawing from this treaty would likely result in increased postage for all international shipments.

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#68
post #57

if China loses its status as a developing country, all that's likely to happen is the items will end up being shipped from a neighbouring country that still has the status. When you buy items from AliExpress often they have the option of being sent by Singapore Post. I'm not exactly sure how that works (Singapore isn't that close to China), but although the item comes from China, to the postal service it doesn't.

Likely China won't be the only country that gets reclassified.

Still, if the US leaves the treaty it won't matter to Americans in a year.

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#69
post #63

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…

> This is why sometime this year people who receive such mail will be billed additional fees increasing slowly over the next few years. Why are the people receiving the mail being billed extra when it is the sender failing compliance? Shouldn't this be rolled into "shipping and handling" that the sender has to deal with?

How would you bill the sender for this? The item is already in your local postal system by the time you know it is non-compliant. It’s a choice between not delivering the packages, having the rest of the postal system subsidise them or ask the recipient to make up the difference.

Re: US Announces Withdraw From Postal Treaty

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should pay the cost of shipping their parts from China to the US without a subsidy from the US taxpayer.

Of course you realize that this change will likely disproportionately affect the poor and middle-class (who will see a sharp rise in shipping costs) as well as smaller businesses who rely on thin margins to survive. The cost of $300 million per year as quoted in the article seems like peanuts compared to some of the other actions this administration has burdened tax payers with.

Fixed it for you:

This change will likely disproportionately affect the poor and middle-class (who will see a sharp rise in manufacturing jobs) as well as smaller businesses who rely on manufacturing to survive.

Given the state of the economy, "burdened" is not a reasonable description.

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