REWahoo
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give
Ever wonder why you can purchase something from China for a delivered price less than you would pay for shipping alone if it was purchased in the US? I've often wondered why, and now I found the answer.
It's a conspiracy. Yes, it actually is.
Example: The Mighty Mug
You can thank (or curse, if you are Jayme Smaldome) the Universal Postal Union (UPU), headquartered in Bern Switzerland. This little known group of representatives from the Postal Services of 192 countries meets every four years to set the rules for international mail. And in doing so they have created a reverse trade barrier, actually changing the flow of the global economy.
You can download the Planet Money episode from NPR or link to the transcript here.
It's a conspiracy. Yes, it actually is.
Example: The Mighty Mug
It's a travel mug that's almost impossible to knock over, invented by a guy in New Jersey named Jayme Smaldone. A few months ago, Jayme realized he could order a knockoff Mighty Mug from China and get it shipped for less than it would cost him to ship his mug to a neighbor.
The reason for this price gap, Jayme claims, is a secretive group of postal policymakers that meets every four years to fix international shipping rates. A kind of postal illuminati.
You can thank (or curse, if you are Jayme Smaldome) the Universal Postal Union (UPU), headquartered in Bern Switzerland. This little known group of representatives from the Postal Services of 192 countries meets every four years to set the rules for international mail. And in doing so they have created a reverse trade barrier, actually changing the flow of the global economy.
You can download the Planet Money episode from NPR or link to the transcript here.