I hope you are all complaining to your local political person.

Yeah, like that will accomplish anything I'd have better luck talking to a wall

Yeah, like that will accomplish anything I'd have better luck talking to a wall[/quote] True, but if enough folk start making known that they will only vote for candidates who tackle USPS, you'd be surprised how important the issue will suddenly become to your local Senator! (He gets re-elected every two years, so cannot afford to brush off popular anger for too long...) Sadly this new move will cripple the US economy, keeping it firmly in recession. Wonder what the White House was thinking when they first heard the plans? Tom

this is indeed a shame, Perhaps archer could find some more u.k european suppliers.? postage is a vig issue now-a-days, and its sheer profiteering riding on the boom of online shopping.

The increase in shipping charges is only half the story for UK modellers purchasing from overseas. The incidence of incurring a customs charge is becoming the norm rather than the exception. I buy a lot from the US and Japan and a few years ago maybe one in ten parcels got caught by customs...it's now more like every other one. HMRC then charge VAT at 20% on the value of the goods INCLUDING SHIPPING, so with shipping prices doubling expect the charges to increase to match. I have no issue with paying VAT on the cost of the goods as that is the value of the item I am importing, however I fail to see how it's justified to levy a tax on the shipping which is basically a service that has already been paid for at the other end. To add insult to injury, Royal Mail then charge £8.00 'administration fee' to tell you you owe import duty on your parcel...and you have to collect the package yourself!

Yeah, like that will accomplish anything I'd have better luck talking to a wall[/quote] The postal service isn't like the Army any more, it's more like a Government-owned company, (They haven't received taxpayer funding for 30 years) so there's not a lot that the political process can do. The fact is that people just aren't mailing paper around as much as they were in 1970. Pushing paper is a dying business thanks to this thing we're using right now to read this. There are just fewer and fewer items mailed every year to absorb the same costs. The postal pension system is a big cost driver, as is the desire of every community to have its own post office and ZIP code. There's a legal mandate to serve everyone in the USA, and the population and number of places sending and receiving mail keeps growing. Add to that the increases in the cost of fuels. All-in-all I am happy with the USPS. Delivery times have decreased since I was young - It used to take about five days to receive a letter or small item from any distance away, now I see things in three or even two days. Plus, it is still extremely secure and reliable. I've sent and received a lot in the last forty years, and can't fill up one hand with the number of things that have been lost or destroyed in the mails. (By contrast, I can think of about the same number of damaged items using the private package firms, but over a sample that is much, much, smaller.) KL

My suggestion to any U.S. businesses who ship to Canada is to stay with USPS. Don't move to UPS as they charge brokerage fees to Canadian customers in addition to your regular shipping charges. As it can sometimes approximate 46% of the declared value, it just makes me avoid ordering from companies like Squadron who use UPS. Cheers, Chris

I concur. It the onlyoption is to ship by UPS (or FEDEX) then I simply will NOT shop there. The flat rate brokerage fee is brutal. A $5 item can incur a $24 fee plus the taxes. Now, I still may not be able to afford the USPS if it gets too bad, but the UPS thing is a surefire dealbreaker. Paul

I know from our own research, USPS is still the most price competitive shipper even after the rate changes. There are some minor lingering issues with printing a shipping label via the Paypal payment/shipping setup in regards for First Class International Package Service, but we are working around it. UPS, FedEx, etc. honestly aren't after our business, or similar businesses with our shipping numbers and weights. We are simply too small for them. We will continue to utilize USPS for our orders, North America especially, and are seeking new distribution centers in Europe and Asia to circumvent the issue altogether moving forward. Those things take a lot of time and planning though. We should have a Canadian distribution point setup soon as well. We are in talks with a great company in this regards. For now, we have slightly shipping higher prices than before for International customers, but not much in the end. We are absorbing part of that costs to keep the pain levels in tact and stay in the good graces of everyone. And Kurt is correct, most of the USPS price/service change issue revolves around no government tax dollar funding for them as they are independent entity, and the cost overruns are generated primarily from their failing pension plan system. It has less to do with higher fuel costs and their shipping service costs, the price hikes were generated elsewhere, and is part the fallout from 2008-9 economic disaster that are still playing out. Best, Mike http://www.facebook.com/RinaldiStudio