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No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

sellercentral.amazon.com

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Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#161

Post by ikeboy »

ComputerGuru wrote: post #112
ikeboy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>FOUNTAIN: Anna sent us a chart that estimates how much less. And it says, if you or I wanted to send a three-quarter-pound package somewhere in the U.S., the U.S. Postal Service would charge around $4.76 for the last leg of the journey. >MALONE: Yeah, the so-called final mile. However, if that same package came in from China, the USPS would only charge China Post $1.39. That means the USPS charges you and me roughly…

UPU rates do include tracking. All ePacket deliveries from China include last mile (port-to-door) tracking.

UPU and ePacket are two different programs. ePacket is more expensive, includes tracking, and is profitable for USPS.

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#162

Post by Scoundreller »

freehunter wrote: post #129
mfer wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USPS has been getting money from taxes to offset the debt they run each year. For many years now they have been in the red. Fortune wrote about it back in 2015[1] and you can read the 2018 financial results[2]. Some tax money goes to the USPS. [1] https://fortune.com/2015/03/27/us-postal-service/ [2] https://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2018/pr18_093....

To offset the debt that Congress has forced on them by requiring them to pre-fund pensions and healthcare cost for employees who don't exist yet. And Congress sets postage rates as well, so USPS can't raise rates in order to pay down their congressionally-mandated debt without getting approval from Congress. And the requests to raise rates are often denied.

Congress sets domestic letter mail rates.

Everything else is a free-for-all.

I’m sure Amazon’s direct delivery system also stuck a knife in USPS.

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#163

Post by tracer4201 »

magduf wrote: post #5

This actually sounds like a good thing. It costs Chinese shippers almost nothing to send stuff directly from China, while it costs me quite a lot to send stuff within the US, largely because I'm subsidizing all the Chinese shippers. Moreover, for me to send any parcel (even very small ones, like 2 oz.) outside the US costs a small fortune these days, again because I'm subsidizing the Chinese shippers.

I don’t have the background on this - help me understand why or how it’s cheaper for goods to ship cheaper from China than shipping within the US? The US taxpayer is subsidizing this? I’m shocked and confused.

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#164

Post by [deleted] »

magduf wrote: post #12
HNcantBtrustd wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does this mean lower government spending? Kind of blows my mind the government gets tax money and private people get the benefits.

Huh? I'm not sure what this has to do with taxes or government spending. The USPS doesn't get tax money; it's financed by its customers, like any other business, it just happens to be wholly owned by the federal government. Postal rates are high because they're forced by the UPU agreement to deliver Chinese mail for almost nothing, so they pass the costs on to US customers.

[deleted]

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#165

Post by ikeboy »

mistermann wrote: post #98
ikeboy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>FOUNTAIN: Anna sent us a chart that estimates how much less. And it says, if you or I wanted to send a three-quarter-pound package somewhere in the U.S., the U.S. Postal Service would charge around $4.76 for the last leg of the journey. >MALONE: Yeah, the so-called final mile. However, if that same package came in from China, the USPS would only charge China Post $1.39. That means the USPS charges you and me roughly…

Do US sellers have access to this slow shipping option? If so, it's curious why they wouldn't (based on the comments in the link) offer it as an option to compete with Chinese sellers.

You can get costs down on small, light packages by putting it in a big envelope and using good old fashioned stamps.

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#166

Post by ikeboy »

tverbeure wrote: post #158
ikeboy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>FOUNTAIN: Anna sent us a chart that estimates how much less. And it says, if you or I wanted to send a three-quarter-pound package somewhere in the U.S., the U.S. Postal Service would charge around $4.76 for the last leg of the journey. >MALONE: Yeah, the so-called final mile. However, if that same package came in from China, the USPS would only charge China Post $1.39. That means the USPS charges you and me roughly…

> In particular, they take a retail price for fast shipping with tracking and compare to a wholesale price for slow shipping without tracking. While I agree about the fast shipping part, many of my slow shipping AliExpress packages from China had tracking included.

Then they're most likely using ePacket, which is more expensive than UPU rates and is profitable for the USPS, and is not subsidized.

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#167

Post by morpheuskafka »

tasty_freeze wrote: post #130
BurningFrog wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USPS gets a monopoly on its gigantic market from the government. That is an enormous government subsidy. It is very much not like any other business.

The USPS does have a special relationship, but it isn't a one way street. First, it isn't a monopoly -- there are many other shippers competing in the profitable segments of the market. Second, USPS is obligated to service every location in the US, and at government-controlled prices. USPS will deliver, door to door, a letter from Nowhere, MT to Remote, GA for $0.55, even though they take a loss on it. Try to get Fed…

Perhaps you should look at USPS Publication 542, https://about.usps.com/publications/pub542/welcome.htm, which describes how they have a monopoly and the power to levy what amounts to a tax on anyone that competes in a prohibited way.

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#168

Post by floatingatoll »

jrockway wrote: post #126

The impression I get from that thread is that the dream here is now Americans can do what they do best, sit in the middle of transactions and collect rent. Previously, you could go to a Chinese website and have the Chinese factory send you a widget directly to your door. Now that will be too expensive, but hey we have a solution! An American will order a bunch of widgets in bulk, ship them over in a cargo ship, come…

Being able to hold someone accountable seems an important aspect of neutralizing the Amazon fraud problem.

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#169

Post by axaxs »

I don't know why USPS doesn't just raise its rates across the board. I understand why, 50, 20, or even perhaps 15 years ago, it was important to keep mail ultra cheap. But today, I'd argue >95% of mail comes from businesses, and most of that are ads in some form or another. It's ridiculous to me that I can send a piece of mail to the other side of the USA in 2 days for less than $0.50. I don't want prices to go up, of course, but at the same time, I have trouble listening to the woe-is-me attitude of the USPS, while their pricing scheme makes no sense at all.

Re: No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

#170

Post by docker_up »

iNate2000 wrote: post #27
zip1234 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bad for the environment as well for trans-pacific shipping to be cheaper

Aren't ocean vessels one of the most efficient forms of transportation in existence?

No. The 15 largest cargo ships produce more pollution than all the cars in the world combined.

http://www.industrytap.com/worlds-15-biggest-ships-create-mo...

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