Very strange business method from the USPS...

[Winbert Hutahaean]

Hello all.

Hopefully, someone knowing inside the USPS can explain better... or simply the US citizen...

So here we go.. at any country, a government owned postal company (or used to be government owned but privatized like Deutsche Post or La Poste) will be the cheaper route to send parcel both domestic and overseas destination. The trade for this cheap rate is slower than full private companies like DHL, UPS or FedEx.

I used to know USPS was cheap for international route especially with their flat rate envelop.

I have not been buying from the USA and now start buying LPs. But as you now one LP is already 200 grams (0.45 lbs), so buying tens would come to 5 kg (11 lbs) and that now would be so expensive to send via the USPS (more than $100 to Bulgaria where I live now).

So I contacted Pirateship that is known cheaper. I thought they will use their own facilites. I bought my vinyls from LA.

So Pirateship sent my vinlys from LA to Miami via USPS...

.. and from Miami my order is heading now to Bulgaria via......

....USPS...!!

This is not consolidated, so my parcel has its own tracking numbers but different with the USPS tracking numbers previously given for LA to Miami route.

So from USPS to USPS....

I knew Pirateship must have a special contract with the USPS... but why don't the USPS lower the rate publicly... so more people use USPS.. rather giving this to third parties.. and yet it is still them who is going to deliver to last destination.

It puzzles me a lot.

Can someone explain what is behind this?

[Ed Gordon]

Transshipment is used save money and/or avoid costs. It is often a way to avoid additional charges that a tariff might impose for example.

Shipping goods from China to America via Vietnam involves using Vietnam as a transshipment point to take advantage of lower tariffs. This practice has raised concerns about trade fraud, prompting Vietnam to tighten controls on such shipments.

Source: AI

The motive to save money often results in practices that seem to defy logic. The cost to move something from A to B is often cheaper if you ship to Z and then to B.

[Winbert Hutahaean]

Transshipment is used save money ...

Source: AI

The motive to save money often results in practices that seem to defy logic. The cost to move something from A to B is often cheaper if you ship to Z and then to B.

Ed... that AI explanation, I think is about avoiding tariff (export/import tax). However my situation is not about tariff at all but more about the shipment charge that will be more expensive if we deal directly with the USPS than through third party.

[Ed Gordon]

AI explains that:

The issue with lower USPS charges from China stemmed from the "de minimis" exemption, a trade provision that allowed small-value packages (under $800) to enter the U.S. duty-free. This, combined with the Universal Postal Union (UPU) treaty, created a situation where Chinese e-commerce companies could ship goods to the U.S. at significantly lower rates than domestic shippers. The UPU treaty charges lower terminal fees to economically disadvantaged nations, including China, and the de minimis exemption allowed these companies to avoid tariffs

Tariffs don't have to be part of the equation. For examples, in the US it can be cheaper to buy a round trip ticket to an intermediate destination and never use the return ticket because buying a direct flight is more expensive. That is Transshipment of people instead of products.

[Dominique De Bast]

Happend to me with Mondial Relay France) several times. They moved the parcell from South France to Norh France and from there it was sent by La Poste to Belgium, which doesn't make any sense as the postage is the same from any place in France. And the public rates are higher than Mondial Relay 's ones.