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As U.S. Postage Rates Continue to Rise, the USPS Gives the Chinese a 'Free Ride'

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Re: As U.S. Postage Rates Continue to Rise, the USPS Gives the Chinese a 'Free Ride'

#21

Post by bluedino »

timthelion wrote: post #7

The level of skew that "free trade" has created is pretty insane here in Europe. Shipping to Berlin is cheaper from China than it is from Prague. But that's not all. If I make an electronic device in Prague, and sell it to someone in Berlin, I am legally required to mark it with my address and a CE label. Regulators can then write to me and demand documentation on the devices safety, and if I don't comply within 8 da…

>> I can be forced to pay a large fine and destroy all European inventory

We stopped selling in Europe because resellers would place an order, never pay for it, and we couldn't force them to because of some certification we didn't have.

Management didn't want to spend $20,000 getting certified to sell in Europe, so we basically bowed out of the market and now miss out in millions in sales.

Re: As U.S. Postage Rates Continue to Rise, the USPS Gives the Chinese a 'Free Ride'

#22

Post by Freak_NL »

the-dude wrote: post #15
Freak_NL wrote: post #3

This is well-known to anyone who ever looked into AliExpress and other Chinese online stores. Most of the stuff you can buy there has free shipping to pretty much everywhere. The reason why is known too (international postal agreements). What surprises me today is that nothing seems to have changed yet. Last year it was rumoured that the free ride would gradually end starting this year, but so far the Chinese retaile…

There have been changes : PostNL does not deliver these packages at the door anymore and you have to pick it up at a service location.

PostNL seemingly does this only for packages (not envelopes; these are delivered as you'd expect) sent via China Post containing a '3S' tracking code. A recent purchase of mine got delivered to my door by PostNL; it was shipped via 'AliExpress Standard Shipping' which apparently doesn't get rerouted.

Re: As U.S. Postage Rates Continue to Rise, the USPS Gives the Chinese a 'Free Ride'

#23

Post by pc86 »

bluedino wrote: post #21
timthelion wrote: post #7

The level of skew that "free trade" has created is pretty insane here in Europe. Shipping to Berlin is cheaper from China than it is from Prague. But that's not all. If I make an electronic device in Prague, and sell it to someone in Berlin, I am legally required to mark it with my address and a CE label. Regulators can then write to me and demand documentation on the devices safety, and if I don't comply within 8 da…

>> I can be forced to pay a large fine and destroy all European inventory We stopped selling in Europe because resellers would place an order, never pay for it, and we couldn't force them to because of some certification we didn't have. Management didn't want to spend $20,000 getting certified to sell in Europe, so we basically bowed out of the market and now miss out in millions in sales.

How are you missing out on millions in sales if they never paid? If it was a financial net positive to stay, why did you leave? If it wasn't, you're not actually missing out on anything by not being there.

For the record I think a lot of European regulations are needlessly anti-business but this seems like an odd example. If management isn't willing to spend $20k (even on credit at onerous interest) to make millions of dollars, I don't think they'll be around very long.

Re: As U.S. Postage Rates Continue to Rise, the USPS Gives the Chinese a 'Free Ride'

#24

Post by Freak_NL »

kogepathic wrote: post #16
icebraining wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, that's exactly why I only buy cheap crap from Chinese online stores, while I spend real money on EU stores, since they provide safety and warranties. I quite like the balance, personally. The shipping rates are certainly weird, and I do think they should be reviewed, although I think the internal rates are too high, but I admittedly don't know the cost structure.

> although I think the internal rates are too high They would probably be cheaper if they weren't subsidizing postal rates for other countries. I find it amusing when you have a problem on AliExpress and the seller suggests you mail it back to them. Unless the product has a very high value it almost always costs more than the product's value to send it back to China. Luckily AliExpress customer service seems to reali…

> I find it amusing when you have a problem on AliExpress and the seller suggests you mail it back to them.

Most of the sellers know this and simply ship you a new item or refund you though — at least for comparatively cheap items.

Re: As U.S. Postage Rates Continue to Rise, the USPS Gives the Chinese a 'Free Ride'

#25

Post by hackits »

kogepathic wrote: post #16
icebraining wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, that's exactly why I only buy cheap crap from Chinese online stores, while I spend real money on EU stores, since they provide safety and warranties. I quite like the balance, personally. The shipping rates are certainly weird, and I do think they should be reviewed, although I think the internal rates are too high, but I admittedly don't know the cost structure.

> although I think the internal rates are too high They would probably be cheaper if they weren't subsidizing postal rates for other countries. I find it amusing when you have a problem on AliExpress and the seller suggests you mail it back to them. Unless the product has a very high value it almost always costs more than the product's value to send it back to China. Luckily AliExpress customer service seems to reali…

Hint if you check out paypal you can get a free return postage for your item, its just hidden away on the web-site but they offer it.

Re: As U.S. Postage Rates Continue to Rise, the USPS Gives the Chinese a 'Free Ride'

#26

Post by cannonedhamster »

gruez wrote: post #19

>Yes, the United States and, in a roundabout way, the U.S. taxpayer is footing the bil How can this be? I thought usps was self sufficient?

Internal rates have gone up for USPS customers to subsidize Chinese vendors. American taxpayers are generally the consumers of the USPS. They are still self-sufficient.

Re: As U.S. Postage Rates Continue to Rise, the USPS Gives the Chinese a 'Free Ride'

#27

Post by sharemywin »

OliverJones wrote: post #12

Ordinary citizens can't affect this kind of policy. But US and European megacorporations can surely put pressure on governments to reform this rate imbalance, can't they? Can't Amazon, Wal-Mart and Macys counter the influence of Alibaba on the US government? If not, what the heck. Time to emigrate. There's a way to solve this problem. How about adding an inspection at ports of entry for these packages? The inspection…

Don't kid yourself there's as much epacket on amazon as aliexpress.

Re: As U.S. Postage Rates Continue to Rise, the USPS Gives the Chinese a 'Free Ride'

#29

Post by sharemywin »

thisisit wrote: post #5

"Cross-border e-commerce is currently one of the fastest growing economic sectors on the planet, but it is one that U.S.-based entrepreneurs cannot hope to compete in due to the extreme disparity of shipping rates." But there are other entrepreneurs who are profiting from this disparity too and never mentioned in the article - the dropshippers. People are able to sell stuff easily without having to worry about wareho…

except more and more people are realizing that they can go to ebay or aliexpress less your margin.

Re: As U.S. Postage Rates Continue to Rise, the USPS Gives the Chinese a 'Free Ride'

#30

Post by icebraining »

donaltroddyn wrote: post #17
icebraining wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, that's exactly why I only buy cheap crap from Chinese online stores, while I spend real money on EU stores, since they provide safety and warranties. I quite like the balance, personally. The shipping rates are certainly weird, and I do think they should be reviewed, although I think the internal rates are too high, but I admittedly don't know the cost structure.

The problem is that you don't know who has plugged in a death trap transformer about to explode into flames in the apartment below yours, not to mention the numerous other ways that mains appliances can be unsafely wired.

I also avoid buying stuff that takes mains voltage. But is the risk that they'll "explode into flames" a real concern? All house fires I seem to read about are a result of other factors (stove burners not closed, heating devices near flammable stuff, etc).
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