We have the same issue in Switzerland with cheap packages from China which are received as mail but do not fit through the automated sorting system. This requires a lot of manual labor which increases the costs for the postal service.
This is why sometime this year people who receive such mail will be billed additional fees increasing slowly over the next few years.
The treaty allows under developed nations to ship at a much lower rate. China and a few others should simply be reclassified.
It does require having to leave the treaty - if the UPU Congress refuses to reclassify China. The threat to leave, is meant to apply enough pressure to finally get that reclassification accomplished. They've been intentionally dragging their feet on this matter over time and they only meet under normal circumstances every four years (they can of course hold emergency sessions).
It's the exact same problem the US has had with the WTO, it has refused to do anything about China's dramatic state sponsored dumping for more than a decade. These are global bodies that are invalidating themselves by refusing to normalize rules for China now that they're a massive economic power.
I heavily dislike that america just leaves treaties it does not like instead of improving them. Most smaller countries cannot use the same method.
If my country for instance were to do thay nobody would ship there any more because the billing system would be too complex and expensive and the market is just too small.
In the article they make it clear that they’ve indicated they intend to leave, in a year’s time as required by the treaty, if negotiations to bring China out of its old developing nation status don’t succeed.
There have been efforts and negotiations to get the UPU to reclassify China from developing nation status for quite a while now, to no avail. This is the final gambit in those negotiations.
It’s best if you don’t let your hatred of an administration color your perceptions such that you choose not to look at facts.
You are of course correct that in general the US for the last 2-3 decades has been at best schizophrenic about multilateral institutions it was originally instrumental in setting up, and at worst actively hostile.
But in this case, my understanding is that the US did attempt to renegotiate the postal treaty recently, rather than abandon it, without much success.
The exit isn’t finalized, so this could be seen as an (admittedly very formal) gambit in the larger overall negotiation process.
This has been going on for quite a long time. WTO constantly ask China to explain and China keep coming up with explanation / excuses, depending on how you view it.
So something needs to be done, either China truly opens up its market, or continue this trade war disputes for decades to come. ( Which might turn into a real war )
True, but speaking of the WTO, how hard has the US really tried there? A lot of people with economic power in the US benefit from being able to play labor arbitrage with China.
“The process of withdrawing from the treaty takes at least a year and the White House said it would be willing to remain in the UPU if negotiations were successful.”
The UPU has not reclassified China despite years of pressure to do so, and this is the only leverage left to a country in the treaty to force that to happen.
How would you bill the sender for this? The item is already in your local postal system by the time you know it is non-compliant. It’s a choice between not delivering the packages, having the rest of the postal system subsidise them or ask the recipient to make up the difference.
IIRC, there is a way to do something similar in with the USPS, even if it is just a simple letter. Fill out a form, and the receiver gets a bill for the postage due. Something similar happens if you post a letter that cannot (for whatever reason) be returned: The receiver gets a bill they must pay before they can have the package.
I think that they figure the sender probably knows they are getting a lot of mail since the bulk of it is items ordered. They can know they are non-compliant by having standards on how many "free" packages one can receive and/or sending a notice when one is getting close to the limit.
Yeah, not a word about "people who receive such mail will be billed additional fees". It mentions that the sender in China will be charged more over time.
From all the people I have talked to about this especially makers who order alot from China, it was my understanding that this is what the post office will do. It is probably also the only thing they can do and they already have a system in place to collect such fees.
This is why sometime this year people who receive such mail will be billed additional fees increasing slowly over the next few years.
The treaty allows under developed nations to ship at a much lower rate. China and a few others should simply be reclassified.
This does not require having to leave the treaty.