US withdrawal from international mail treaty could alter delivery for APO-FPO addresses
The Trump administration announced last year that the U.S. would withdraw from the 144-year-old treaty, primarily over growing complaints by some U.S.-based businesses that packages sent to the States from other countries — primarily China — have much lower postal rates. In some cases, U.S. businesses spend more to mail a package domestically than a China-based firm would pay to ship to America.
The U.S. is slated to drop out of the postal union treaty in October unless changes are made by the Bern, Switzerland-based body that governs the system. Because the treaty has been in effect so long and includes almost all the world’s nations, the ripple effects of withdrawal are unpredictable. The U.S. Postal Service seems to be counting on a meeting scheduled for September during which treaty members will discuss changes to “terminal dues,” which are the rates each member nation pays for delivery of mail within other countries.
But the Postal Service is also undertaking “parallel efforts” in the event the U.S. withdraws from the treaty, including “addressing and prioritizing military mailing issues,” the statement said. The Postal Service declined to elaborate at all on what those military mailing issues might be.
Among the primary host nations are Germany, Italy, Portugal, United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Kuwait, Australia, Japan and South Korea. But the Trump administration is already at odds with European allies ... Trump has also frequently criticized fellow NATO-state members for contributing too little for operating expenses. Consequently, some countries may not have the appetite to negotiate a postal agreement with the United States.
https://www.stripes.com/news/us/us-withdrawal-from-international-mail-treaty-could-alter-delivery-for-apo-fpo-addresses-1.592309
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I got assigned to the post’s post office when I was in the Army. I was leaving in a few months so I was “short”. GI’s and their families LOVED getting packages from home.
Being a traditionalist I waiting until Christmas morning to open my gifts. Everyone else had opened them as they came in. I had about 10 guys sit and watch me open gifts that morning. I tried to warn them that they’d be sorry opening them early.
