GRRR - that post above didn't work properly... it was MY comment, not a quote!

When the Australias are prepared to subsidise the losses of Australia Post to the same degree as the US enonomy bails out the US Postal Service, then prices will drop.

Australia Post makes a small profit each year ($300 million or so)

The US Postal Service ended its third fiscal quarter (April 1 – June 30) with a net loss of $5.2 billion

That means that they are on track to be losing something like 20 BILLION DOLLARS THIS YEAR

Not all of that was because of postage, but you ned to understand that it is not a fair comparison, eh!