As bad as the domestic shipping rates increasing, the International First Class rate hike is unbelievable! I sell quite a bit to Canada, Australia, and the UK (especially when dealing with Hockey and Non-Sports cards)
A small 1 oz. package that several years ago cost about $4 to ship had increased to $7.10 a year or so ago but today that same package to Canada will run $9.50 and to he UK and Australia we are now paying $13.50 and $13.75, respectively. A near 100% rate increase, and they don't even deliver the packages, just hand them off to that country!
All this being said I have never understood why we expect the Post Office to be the ONLY Government Agency to be 100% self reliant and to break even (I often hear people complain that the post office loses money). No other agency is self-sufficient, of all the things our tax dollars are used for I have no problem with the post office being subsidized (sorry for the politics).
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