[Nhcoll-l] US withdrawal from UPU

[Bentley, Andrew Charles]

Doug

In looking at the coverage given to this so far it is too early to tell but it does appear as if the intention is not to leave the UPU altogether but to negotiate higher prices for China who are gaming the system.  If we were to pull out completely then all international mail both into and out of the US would be severely affected and would essentially halt all mail service for USPS and courier services.  I very much doubt it would come to that but there is the possibility of higher prices based on the negotiations if other countries decide to retaliate.

Andy

    A  :             A  :             A  :
 }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
    V                V                V
Andy Bentley
Ichthyology Collection Manager
University of Kansas
Biodiversity Institute
Dyche Hall
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561
USA

Tel: (785) 864-3863
Fax: (785) 864-5335 
Email: abentley at ku.edu  
http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu
    A  :             A  :             A  :
 }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
    V                V                V

-----Original Message-----
From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Doug Yanega
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2018 6:37 PM
To: nhcoll <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] US withdrawal from UPU

Some of you may have heard that the US government has announced, less than a week ago, its intention to withdraw from the Universal Postal Union (UPU) treaty, after over 140 years. This treaty gives discounted shipping rates on small parcels into the US, from over 150 countries. 
Does anyone here know - for certain - whether this would affect the cost of international shipments of specimens into the US, and if so, what sort of increase in cost would it entail? The coverage of this news item in the US media is hopelessly narrow in its focus, and it's almost impossible to tell what effect, if any, this would have on specimen shipments.

Thanks in advance,

-- 
Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82

_______________________________________________
Nhcoll-l mailing list
Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l

_______________________________________________
NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.