Quote:
Originally Posted by leee
Australian Post Office is not picking up the Tab, so China must be paying Australian post Office ?
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Hi Thomas,
Post between nations is governed by a set of agreements made by the members of the Universal Postal Union (UPU).
When you mail an item overseas, it is carried part of the way by your
nation's postal system and the other part of the way by the postal system
of the destination country.
Back in the days of sailing ships, you might get a letter from England.
Chances are you wrote a reply and the costs of delivering this exchange
evened out.
Fast forward to now and the flow of mail from one country to another
can be lopsided. So the UPU has what are called "terminal dues".
The weight of the mail to and from two countries is tallied up and one
country might owe the other money.
However, despite it being one of the largest economies in the world,
China has benefited from having "developing nation" status under the UPU.
As a bonus of having this status, China is given a more favorable rate
on its terminal dues.
So that means Australia post users here subsidise the cost of delivery
of each of those parcels coming from China. So in practice, Australian
businesses pay significantly higher rates to export by post
products made here in order to subsidise all those little parcels people
buy from China.
So in doing that, Australia scores an "own goal'. If it sounds like it sucks,
it is because it does.
The United States, for example, was paying China in the order of
$300 million a year in terminal dues despite the fact the bulk of the
parcel delivery is one way.
Rather than think in terms of a lens cap, think in terms of the means
of production. As a manufacturer, you actually tend to think in terms of the
first differential beyond that, that is the innovations and improvements
to the means and methods of production over time.
Only by being embedded within the manufacturing loop can you make
the observations and collect the data that then allows you to build better
equipment and processes. Over time, that know-how becomes almost
indistinguishable from magic to those who don't manufacture themselves.
That is China's end goal. To make sure that they will be at the leading
edge of that magic.