Australia Post, USPS and Royalmail are killing the Golden Goose

[timakempton]

The recent rise in international parcel post charges by killing international trade by making it too expensive to sell internationally. Is this a case of them killing the Golden Goose by trying to cash in on the increased parcel traffic or is it an intentional strategy by the respective Governments to prop up the local retailers profits by making it to expensive to buy from other western countries?? Don't they realise that by doing this they just encourage more trade with China and other countries in Asia that provide cheap delivery and low prices??

I just don't get it!

A 2kg parcel from the UK is now a minimum of £33 ($48) and a medium size Priority Flat Rate Box from the US is US$59.95!! So much for buying from the US and the UK......

[thesoulyearns]

International shipping is good for things that fit large letter rate and parcel rate under 500g. For other things, I don't know.

[purple.cow]

The UPO only kicks in once the goods have passed through the customs of the receiving country so China for example has already covered the greater part of the costs to fly the goods to Oz.

There's nowhere near the same amount of PO traffic going back to China as most of Aussies'exports to there go in bulk shipping containers that China is paying for, so Oz tends to be on the winning side there lol.

[purple.cow]

timakempton "The net effect of increased volume should be lower cost!

The net effect of cheaper aircraft operational costs should be lower cost!"

That might be true if the aircraft was carrying nothing but freight but no commercial airliners do and they're the frieght movers of the world.

They only carry a given weight aboard them in freight and the greater part of that return goes toward subsidising the cheaper passenger seats all you lovely globe trotters tend to think are yours by right. or you whinge about getting ripped off.

Without the commercial freight aboard all your holiday flight seats would cost you 5-6 times or more than the amount you are paying now.

The freight moving game has always been a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul and that's why so many small frieghters go bust these days. They haven't got a Peter to rob to pay Paul and they just can't make ends meet.

As I said earlier, I had a ruddy great fleet of trucks running before I sold up to retire out of the game about a year ago, but even though we were running even more freight around the country every passing year I wasn't getting rich and fat on it all.

We were ruddy lucky to see 4-5 cents per kilo carried profit after all costs were covered

[purple.cow]

1.35.scale.models "The worlds postal services should cancel the U.P.O. and charge each other for each item delivered"

If they did that you'd all have a lot more to whinge about because it's the UPO that helps to keep the costs of your mail down to a reasonable level.

Even the domestic side of the deal would shoot out of control.

If you've never been involved in freighting you have no clue how the job really works.

[judyfidella]

Right, so it costs me $6.35 to post a blouse or a summer dress.

So why charge $8?

And why does it pay me to buy dresses from England?

[davewil1964]

Right, so it costs me $6.35 to post a blouse or a summer dress.

So why charge $8?

And why does it pay me to buy dresses from England?

It remains to be seen if that remains the case, given RM are supposed to be significantly increasing postage rates.

As far as charging $8 goes, that is up to you. If your buyers are happy with it, go for it.

[putney32]

Right, so it costs me $6.35 to post a blouse or a summer dress.

So why charge $8?

And why does it pay me to buy dresses from England?

judy that $6.35 is just for the postage, add $1 for signature required if you want to cover yourself up to $100 AP compensation, and add, what? .15c for the satchel, and then there is tissue paper, snaplock bag to wrap... $8 is about right, with handling.

[judyfidella]

That $6.35 is for the postage and the satchel. I don't want a signature for most items, and I don't think giving a buyer a pretext to mark down my DSRs is either smart or necessary.

As it is, I charge $6.20. This affords me the luxury of saying that I only charge what I pay for postage.

Tissue paper is about 10c a sheet, parcel ribbon is dirt cheap by the long roll- I just hope I live long enough to use it all up! The postcards I put in with my items cost 12c each, and I put that down to the cost of doing things the way I want to.

I'm sure I could fail if I took the view that with my two degrees I should be getting paid for my time!

The business of selling on eBay is as much about PR as about anything else. Looking for justification to charge more is not going to cut much ice with the buyers, I'm afraid.

Nobody can tell me why I find it worthwhile to buy dresses from England. Basically, much more choice: lower asking prices: postage very much like our domestic postage- from the right sellers, that is. Doubtless there are a lot of UK sellers who want to be paid for sticky tape and petrol and time spent standing in queues- I don't buy from them.

[hotshot-cards]

What about the cost to list the item? $2.00 handling and listing fee is solid.

You might not like to add extra cover etc but that doesn't mean everyone else shouldn't.

We charge $8.95 for a standard parcel under 500 grams which constitutes the $6.95 from post, the 0.25 for the bag and the cost of bubble wrap plus a cut in our listing fee.

It's not our fault Australia Post continually put their prices up while Chinese sellers continue to have deals made for them by their Government...

[antoinette4727]

Yes I think you're dead right, what's more, that's the reason our international trade on ebay has recently been cut so severely, so we're forced to trade with them if we're looking for something special that we can't get here.

I like looking for small antiques but now I find I'm locked out of a lot of the places I used to go to.