I have been wondering about the same... My guess is that there is probably no country that doesn't have an export deficit against China, and possibly like the US trillions of depth? So it might be obvious that China used some of that Money owed to them to buy into the postal systems of the world and get those bulk shipping rates that make Chinese products so competitive for example on Ebay with those free shipping items from China, that cost a third of what you could ship them for within the country!? But then when there is something you really need shipping can suddenly be quite expensive, and import duties are quite annoying too! On 5/25/15, Jason White wrote: > I am located in the US and have always found it odd how cheaply > packages can be shipped to the US (usually less than $3.00, sometimes > less than $1.00) yet how expensive it is to send equivalent packages > back overseas from the US. In theory, it should cost the same going > both ways. But the amounts by which the US and Chinese mail are > subsidized seem to differ greatly, because it certainly seems to cost > more than either when shipping from other countries. Skimming The > Chinese Post website [4] I see a page talking about "The Postal > Savings Bank of China is a full-function commercial bank offering > comprehensive and convenient financial services and 37,000 saving > outlets." So perhaps the Chinese post's expenses are payed for in part > by the loans made by the "The Postal Savings Bank of China"? Can > anyone comment on this? > > I did a comparison between postal costs in China, the US, and Canada. > I was surprised by the price difference for shipping inside of Canada. > Ottawa to Vancouver is a similar distance compared to New York to Los > Angeles, yet shipping with the Canada post is easily 4-5 times more > expensive. In fact inside of Canada, for whatever reason, it is > cheaper (2/3 of the cost) to send a package to China than it is to > send it from Ottawa to Vancouver. > > It seems that is only marginally more expensive to send small packages > halfway around the world (from China to the US) than it is to send > packages within the United States. If one had to send lots of (small) > packages to many different countries, it seems like China is *the* > place to be. > > Prices in USD. > > United States Postal Office (First class international, or standard post)= : > * 100 gram Package, New York to Los Angeles. $2.50. [1] > * 100 gram Package, to Canada from the US. $6.91 > * 100 gram Package, to China from the US. $8.88 > > Canada Post (Air Mail, 6"x4"x1" Package): > * 100 gram Package, from Ottawa to Vancouver. $15.09. [2] > * 100 gram Package, from Ottawa to US. $8.13. [3] > * 100 gram Package, from Ottawa to China. $11.20 > > China Post (Air-Mail): > * 100 gram Packet to China/Neighboring countries from China. $2.26 > * 100 gram Packet to United States/Canada/etc. from China. $2.95 > > [1] > * New York Postal Code: 10001 > * Los Angeles Postal Code: 90001 > > [2] > * Ottawa Postal code: K0A 1B0 > * Vancouver Postal code: V5K 0A1 > > [3] from Ottawa to New York or Los Angeles, both have the same price. > > [4] http://english.chinapost.com.cn/ > > -- > Jason White > -- > http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > --=20 Tobias Gogolin Tel. D1 (49) 0151 5187 5210 Tel. D2 (49) 0152 0839 5060 skype: moontogo You develop Sustainable Ranch Technology at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/SURA-TECH an Open Source Electric Motor/Alternator at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Performance_Axial_Flux and an Open Source Motor Controller at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GoBox --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .