
US Announces Withdraw from Postal Treaty; International Shipping Prices to Rise - Yoms
https://hackaday.com/2018/10/17/us-announces-withdraw-from-postal-treaty-international-shipping-prices-expected-to-rise/
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Cynddl
> The treaty in question is the Universal Postal Union, which established that
> each country should retain all money it has collected for international
> postage.

Without the Universal Postal Union, how will fees be calculated when shipping
from the US or to the US? Does every country have to sign a new agreement that
could include yearly collection or payment of taxes?

~~~
ElBarto
Yes, I would assume that if the US isn't part of the postal union then foreign
post services have no way to send letters and parcels to the US anymore unless
and until they negotiate service deals with US operators.

The same should apply for sending letters from the US to anywhere else in the
world.

The Wikipedia page on the Universal Postal Union states:

"Prior to the establishment of the UPU, each country had to prepare a separate
postal treaty with other nations if it wished to carry international mail to
or from them."

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agentdax5
The referenced articles seem to only focus on the US-China relationship. What
about the impact it will have between the US and the rest of the world? Will
other countries be less apt to purchase US goods from abroad?

I don’t think it is very fair the Chinese can ship very cheaply to the rest of
the world but this seems like a heavy handed approach.

~~~
arrrg
It used to go in the other direction. This treaty was beneficial for the US in
the past.

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anilshanbhag
Well you would be surprised that you can buy a sub-dollar item (eg: [1]) on
AliExpress and have it shipped all the way from China to your home in US. Just
the shipping within US using USPS costs at-least $3.

[1] [https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SHUANGR-
fashion-1-pair-5-sty...](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SHUANGR-
fashion-1-pair-5-style-Punk-Rock-Ear-Clip-Cuff-Wrap-Earrings-No-piercing-
Clip/32817129665.html)

~~~
ElBarto
Lest we forget that the USPS seems to have been quite OK with how things
worked:

[http://about.usps.com/news/national-
releases/2010/pr10_058.h...](http://about.usps.com/news/national-
releases/2010/pr10_058.htm)

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bmaupin
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18246130](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18246130)

