Do you have any comprehension of why the post office cuts off international first class at 4 pounds and requires parcels over 4 pounds to go by priority mail? It has nothing to do with international treaties or the UPU, because other countries are far more reasonable, or so my global eBay customers tell me.
At one time, there was an international book rate. That disappeared when they changed the name of "book rate" to "media mail."
The actual, real effect of high postal rates has been to cut into sale prices for book dealers selling common used books. For example, a book worth $5 now sells for $1 plus $4 in shipping. This has major impact on a lot of the stuff I sell. My nephew, who does a huge business selling books on Amazon, gets most of his books from a recycling firm. He takes most of the books that would sell for less than $15-20 and either sells them to local bookstores or donates them to charity.
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Date: 2012-05-04 05:01 pm (UTC)At one time, there was an international book rate. That disappeared when they changed the name of "book rate" to "media mail."
The actual, real effect of high postal rates has been to cut into sale prices for book dealers selling common used books. For example, a book worth $5 now sells for $1 plus $4 in shipping. This has major impact on a lot of the stuff I sell. My nephew, who does a huge business selling books on Amazon, gets most of his books from a recycling firm. He takes most of the books that would sell for less than $15-20 and either sells them to local bookstores or donates them to charity.