Who gets the money from my stamp when I mail a letter or a postcard (via Mailform or Docupost for example) from the UK to the USA or vice versa? If it’s the UK, how does the airline or the postman in the US profit on my letter? Also, Are they obliged to deliver it for free once it reaches the other country because they receive no direct payment from me? How can international mail help recipient countries make money?
In: 9897
Most national mail services have an arrangement with the other countries where they handle incoming mail for no charge. They usually find that the costs on both sides balance out so there is no point in cross charging.
This is (or was) also the case for roaming mobile charging. If you temporarily move out of the area covered by your phone network and connect to a different provider (e.g. on holiday) , then you keep paying your original provider and the other network doesn’t charge. I used to work for BT, Vodafone and EE and we never transferred charges between companies. Somebody worked out that the costs generally balanced out and doing the paperwork would just incur an admin cost that wasnt necessary.
Latest Answers