A spokesman for the Universal Postal Union (UPU) confirmed that only about 15 percent of the forum’s 192 members support a Trump Administration plan allowing countries to self-declare rates on international packages weighing up to 4.4 pounds.
“I think that provides a reasonable assessment of the situation at this moment in time,” David Dadge, a spokesman for the UPU, told FreightWaves. “Of course, we very much hope that the U.S. will remain a member of the Universal Postal Union. But as a UN Specialized Agency we also have to forge a consensus among all our 192 member countries.”
Negotiations on alternatives were initiated shortly thereafter. They included an amendment by which the United States would stay in the UPU as long as it – and other countries – were allowed to self-declare “terminal dues,” the rates traditionally determined by the UPU to be paid by the postal operator in the origin country to that of the destination country to compensate the destination country’s processing and delivery costs.
“I think that provides a reasonable assessment of the situation at this moment in time,” David Dadge, a spokesman for the UPU, told FreightWaves. “Of course, we very much hope that the U.S. will remain a member of the Universal Postal Union. But as a UN Specialized Agency we also have to forge a consensus among all our 192 member countries.”