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Down Under
Revealed: How the United Nations is smashing Australian businesses by making it cheaper to order goods from CHINA than from local sellers
2020-07-04
  • A United Nations' agreement forces Australian businesses to pay more post fees

  • The Universal Postal Union was set up to help disadvantaged developing nations

  • China is recognised as a developing nation despite it's huge economic power

  • There are growing calls for Australia to renegotiation the unfair agreement
Posted by:Skidmark

#3  Packages from China still have a price advantage, but a smaller one now.

When the third-ever extraordinary congress of the UPU voted to adopt a compromise plan — deemed Option V, for victory — the 192 member countries ushered in an era of international mail wherein eventually, all members will have the chance to self-declare their terminal dues, or effectively, the rates that foreign postal services will charge for service when mail or a parcel crosses their borders.

The U.S. will be the first nation granted this ability. A UPU spokesperson told Supply Chain Dive the U.S. must submit self-declared rates for validation by March 1, 2020, and those rates will be published by April 1, 2020, then go into effect July 1, 2020.

The grievance that U.S. officials cited in their intention to leave the UPU was the mandated cheaper rates granted to countries designated as "developing" — namely China. Before Option V, packages originating in China weighing less than 4.4 pounds were cheaper to ship to the U.S. than packages of the same weight traveling within the U.S.

New rates will initially be capped at 70% of domestic rates with the option to increase 1% every year up to 80% — meaning some international shippers will maintain the advantage the administration objected to, just a much smaller one.
Posted by: Shating Turkeyneck1016   2020-07-04 16:50  

#2  That the UN can push anybody around is pathetic. Be that as it may. That China--with a bona fide space program, nuclear weapons, etc. etc.--is considered a developing nation is absurd beyond belief.

But, once the US is finished committing economic suicide, China will be there to claim the #1 spot.
Posted by: Clem   2020-07-04 11:06  

#1  I believe the same problem exists vis-a-vis the USA. Chinese postal rates were way out of whack. It was reported that the Trump admin was going to attack the problem that made it possible to ship much more cheaply from China than to buy at home. I'm not sure they have done so.
Posted by: b   2020-07-04 09:26  

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