levy@ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy) (10/27/86)
Please forgive me for choosing somewhat inappropriate newsgroups--net.travel, net.internat, and net.legal are the closest I could find for this question. net.mail would not do since that is not meant to be about paper mail, only about electronic mail. Anyhow, what I am wondering is whether, and how, the postal delivery system of a foreign country is reimbursed for its part in accepting, transporting, and delivering a piece of international paper, or parcel, mail which has originated in the USA, and for that matter, vice versa. Are there treaties and procedures governing this, or what? People to whom I have tried to explain this concept do not seem to be able to grasp what I mean, saying things like "the dickens with the foreign country! It just delivers the mail! How simple can you get" and the like. Surely the higher price of "overseas" or international postage must be doing something more than just paying the way of the mail it is attached to, to the border of the destination country, otherwise why higher postage to Canada and Mexico? And surely the destination country's postal service isn't interested in completing the delivery gratis. So what's up? -- ------------------------------- Disclaimer: The views contained herein are | dan levy | yvel nad | my own and are not at all those of my em- | an engihacker @ | ployer or the administrator of any computer | at&t computer systems division | upon which I may hack. | skokie, illinois | -------------------------------- Path: ..!{akgua,homxb,ihnp4,ltuxa,mvuxa, go for it! allegra,ulysses,vax135}!ttrdc!levy -- ------------------------------- Disclaimer: The views contained herein are | dan levy | yvel nad | my own and are not at all those of my em- | an engihacker @ | ployer or the administrator of any computer | at&t computer systems division | upon which I may hack. | skokie, illinois | -------------------------------- Path: ..!{akgua,homxb,ihnp4,ltuxa,mvuxa, go for it! allegra,ulysses,vax135}!ttrdc!levy
ken@rochester.ARPA (Comfy chair) (10/27/86)
When I was a child I asked my father this question and he said there was an mutual agreement to deliver each other's mail. Unfortunately I can't check with my dad again for his sources. It sounds like the sensible thing to do, can you imagine the accounting headache otherwise? But I'd like to hear the real story too. Ken
alanj@orca.UUCP (10/28/86)
In article <1275@ttrdc.UUCP> levy@ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy) writes: >Anyhow, what I am wondering is whether, and how, the postal delivery system >of a foreign country is reimbursed for its part in accepting, transporting, >and delivering a piece of international paper, or parcel, mail which has >originated in the USA, and for that matter, vice versa. Are there treaties >and procedures governing this, or what? > .... > .... international postage must be doing something more than just >paying the way of the mail it is attached to, to the border of the destination >country, otherwise why higher postage to Canada and Mexico? And surely the >destination country's postal service isn't interested in completing the >delivery gratis. So what's up? >-- Almost all countries of the world are members of the International Postal Federation, which was set up in the last century to deal with that exact problem. (Gad, I hope I have the name right!) Prior to the establishment of the IPF, each country had to establish separate treaties with every other country in the world! The IPF is basically a multi-way international treaty that says "I'll deliver your mail if you deliver mine, and we'll settle the difference." There are various minimum standards, such as the receiving country is not supposed to interfere with mail to its citizens, something that the USSR is frequntly accused of. The IPF does not actually carry the mail. Mail service between two different countries varies widely --- an air-mail letter to Japan may only take a couple days, while an air-mail letter to Poland can easily take a month (I know). The Polish letters pile up in New York til somebody decides to ship them over, then the pile up in Poland for a while. Surface mail takes even longer --- you get to add the time the letter spends in the hold of a ship to the time the bureaucracy takes. I don't think the IPF provides for setting the reimbursment rates. I think what happens is the the receiving country bills the sending country. Actually, the rates from the US to Canada are the same for the 1st ounce, and only 1 cent higher for additional ounces (18 vs 17 cents). Postcards are the same rate. I have no info on parcel post; they may well be wildly different. MAIL RATES US to: Canada & Mexico 1st class letter $.22 (first ounce) .18 (2nd & subsequent ozs.) Postcard .14 Columbia, Venezuela, Central America, the Caribbian, Bahamas, Bermuda, St. Pierre & Miquelon Air letter $.39 (per 1/2 oz.) Surface letter .37 (per 1/2 oz?) Air Postcard .33 Surface postcard .25 All other countries except Canada & Mexico Air letter $.44 (per 1/2 oz.) Surface letter .37 (per 1/2 oz?) Air postcard .33 Surface postcard .25 Aerogram $.36 -Alan Jeddeloh Tektronix GTD tektronix!orca!alanj
wb8foz@ncoast.UUCP (David Lesher) (10/29/86)
In article <1275@ttrdc.UUCP> levy@ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy) writes: >Anyhow, what I am wondering is whether, and how, the postal delivery system >of a foreign country is reimbursed for its part in accepting, transporting, >and delivering a piece of international paper, or parcel, mail which has >originated in the USA, and for that matter, vice versa. Are there treaties >and procedures governing this, or what? Strangely enough, you may find the answer in the net.ham-radio group, because we often mail QSL cards (to confirm a contact with a 'rare' country) overseas. There is an international treaty regarding mail. I think the governing body is in Geneva. I do not know how payments are handled, but you can buy what is called an International Reply Coupon (IRC) that the other end can use to send mail back to you. Hope this helps. David Lesher WB8FOZ -- decvax!cwruecmp!ncoast!wb8foz ncoast!wb8foz@case.csnet (ncoast!wb8foz%case.csnet@csnet-relay.ARPA) "SERIOUS? Bones, it could upset the entire percentage!"
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (10/29/86)
The original agreements setting up the International Postal Union specified
a "you deliver my mail and I'll deliver yours" arrangement, in which the
destination country handles delivery for free, in return for the source
country doing the same for mail headed the other way. These agreements
are still essentially in effect, although there have been more recent
supplementary agreements covering compensation payments in the event that
the traffic is seriously asymmetrical.
--
Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
{allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henryclewis@spectrix.UUCP (Chris Lewis) (10/30/86)
In article <2203@orca.TEK.COM> alanj@orca.UUCP (Alan Jeddeloh) writes: >In article <1275@ttrdc.UUCP> levy@ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy) writes: >>Anyhow, what I am wondering is whether, and how, the postal delivery system >>of a foreign country is reimbursed for its part in accepting, transporting, >>and delivering a piece of international paper, or parcel, mail which has >>originated in the USA, and for that matter, vice versa. Are there treaties >>and procedures governing this, or what? yup, well answered by Alan Jeddeloh - no comment from me. >... Actually, the rates from the US to Canada are the same for >the 1st ounce, and only 1 cent higher for additional ounces (18 vs 17 >cents). Unfortunately it's not reciprocal - domestic rates: $.34, Canada to US $.65. -- Chris Lewis Spectrix Microsystems Inc, UUCP: {utzoo|utcs|yetti|genat|seismo}!mnetor!spectrix!clewis Phone: (416)-474-1955
werner@ut-ngp.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) (10/31/86)
it would greatly surprise me if the East Germans don't make the West Germans pay for delivering their mail. They charge for everything else: use of their roads and tracks and waterways. Of course, they don't let hardly anyone out to use the ones in the west and gifts flow mainly only in one direction .... If a West German goes to visit the East (don't know about other nationalities), he has to exchange a certain amount of money for every day he plans to stay there and at a ridiculous rate (25% of what I could get at a western bank) and the amount is anything but trivial. but I am getting side-tracked ... I would nearly expect that there is a totally uneven mail-flow to Mexico and many other countries also and that those countries insist on getting compensated.
faustus@ucbcad.BERKELEY.EDU (Wayne A. Christopher) (11/01/86)
In article <4237@ut-ngp.UUCP>, werner@ut-ngp.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) writes: > If a West German goes to visit the East (don't know about other > nationalities), he has to exchange a certain amount of money for every > day he plans to stay there and at a ridiculous rate (25% of what I > could get at a western bank) and the amount is anything but trivial. > but I am getting side-tracked ... As I remember, I had to exchange about $20 for the one day I was there, and it seemed like a reasonable rate (although I could have gotten much more by exchanging it "informally"...) Wayne