From time to time I send my brother a big box of wasabi peanuts from my home in Taiwan to his home in Florida. Let’s say it’s a 10 pound box and it costs roughly US$25 to ship via airmail. Now, from time to time, my brother sends me socks from Florida to Taiwan (my feet are larger than the local market can support) and the 10 pound box, sent via surface mail costs about 40 bucks.
What gives? AND which government gets the money we shell out for postage or do they split it 50/50?
An interesting question with a complex answer. Cecil gives a better response than I could:
Why does the U.S. deliver foreign mail when we don’t get any money for the stamps?
Basically, each country sets their own rates and keeps the money from stamps for themselves, but they then work out a trade balance to compensate other countries for the shipping costs. If your country and my country ship the same weight of mail to each other, then we’re even, regardless of how much we soaked our citizens for postage. If I shipped more to you than you shipped to me, then I pay you to cover your shipping costs.
And welcome to the boards!