Is the US about to leave the global postal union

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I see two immediate effects if the US pulls out, that directly affects RPG prices.
1. International shipping rates could rise as high as 300%.
2. China, which under the current system counts for shipping costs like a Third World country despite being the #2 economy in the world, will no longer be the go-to country for RPG book printing. As a result, the cost of books themselves may rise as well.
 
But only for packages under 4.6lbs correct? So assuming most things are shipped in bulk and then likely by boat vs plane this doesn't really matter. I'm guessing everything we get from Amazon is sent in bulk and outside the scope of this issue. It's the individual sized stuff shipped straight from country X that is going to get hit. Things like stuff from Alibaba.
 
But only for packages under 4.6lbs correct? So assuming most things are shipped in bulk and then likely by boat vs plane this doesn't really matter. I'm guessing everything we get from Amazon is sent in bulk and outside the scope of this issue. It's the individual sized stuff shipped straight from country X that is going to get hit. Things like stuff from Alibaba.
Yeah it’s going to be the mom and pop business in China and maybe Russia that take a hit. Of course the Russians don’t have nearly the footprint in the US that the Chinese do.
 
Amazon has their own distribution hubs, so it won't affect them. It could be devastating for Ebay though
 
No more devastating than their current corporate strategy

Their current corporate strategy seems to be "we have a monopoly so we'll do what we want". But if it starts costing $50 to get a single miniature shipped from the EU, well even I'll have my limits...
 
Their current corporate strategy seems to be "we have a monopoly so we'll do what we want". But if it starts costing $50 to get a single miniature shipped from the EU, well even I'll have my limits...
It seems to me they are facing a lot more competition due to Facebook markets than ever before. The local sales sites seem to be where it's at for small sellers these days.
 
It seems to me they are facing a lot more competition due to Facebook markets than ever before. The local sales sites seem to be where it's at for small sellers these days.

Yes and no, those markets are tiny and isolated in comparison, it's like comparing a gas station to a grocery store
 
By the way, the US will leave the postal union on October 17 barring an agreement. We don’t have long to wait.
 
Probably not a lot. That's two developed economies so as I understand it the rates wouldn't change a ton.

The US is currently paying a large degree of the subsidies, with that burden falling suddenly on every other developed country, I'm not certain how that could not raise international rates across the board.
 
I’m not going to add my two cents lest I fall into a trap.
 
The thing is, we're basically not going to know for like a year. If the US does pull out next month, there's a year's time for them to negotiate deals, and even rescind their withdrawal.

I dunno, ultimately I have no control over what will happen, so I think I'm going to put it out of my mind as best I can for now and go on to other more pressing concerns.
 
The US is currently paying a large degree of the subsidies, with that burden falling suddenly on every other developed country, I'm not certain how that could not raise international rates across the board.
This all depends on how it gets resolved. The disparity between actual cost and priced cost for Canada and USA might be small die to both being well developed economies. Then subsidies would become mostly a non issue since that's a matter of supporting other players.
 
The thing is, we're basically not going to know for like a year. If the US does pull out next month, there's a year's time for them to negotiate deals, and even rescind their withdrawal.

I dunno, ultimately I have no control over what will happen, so I think I'm going to put it out of my mind as best I can for now and go on to other more pressing concerns.
Good plan.
 
If only the packages under 4,6 lbs are affected, I predict boxes weighing exactly 4,2 lbs would suddenly get very popular. Which might actually be a good thing, as they should be sturdier:grin:!

That, or I might have to start making my purchases from the USA in bulk:shade:.
 
This is largely about China and whether or not it should still be seen as a developing nation and have postage rates set accordingly. Assuming something gets resolved there I believe this will all go away. I have reason to think something will get worked out there and then everything else will go on as usual. Prices might not even change but who is covering the subsidy might.

Ah, now this makes sense.

 
If only the packages under 4,6 lbs are affected, I predict boxes weighing exactly 4,2 lbs would suddenly get very popular. Which might actually be a good thing, as they should be sturdier:grin:!

That, or I might have to start making my purchases from the USA in bulk:shade:.
You have it the other way round. Packages 4.7lbs would become popular.
 
Crisis averted
US is staying in but raising it's inbound rates
 
Crisis averted
US is staying in but raising it's inbound rates
Didn’t wait till the last minute did they :-)
 
Didn’t wait till the last minute did they :-)
I'm pretty convinced all big decisions come down to the last minute. That's when you actually find out what people are willing to go without.
 
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