International Mail

All postal providers have international mail rates. Sometimes there are different rates for direct mail and administrative mail but most of the time there is just one rate.

The reason for just one rate, for both direct mail and administrative mail, is that postal companies agree just one rate per country depending on the volumes they send and receive. There are no separate rates for administrative mail. The way the rates are calculated is based on the rules of the Universal Postal Union UPU. For most countries this rate is a fixed price per kilo so this means a linear tariff. In most cases you local provider will also charge you with a fixed rate per item, this is based on the local handling cost of the mail piece.

There are however exceptions for calculating mail rates. In Europe all countries of the European community have to follow the rules of the European administration. This rules have been agreed in the Reims agreement. This agreement states that the rates have to be based on the local cost per country. The rates always consist of a rate per kilo and a rate per item.

What effect will these different rates have?

• Rates in Europe have big differences when charged per country.
• When zone (f.e. one rate for all of Europe) pricing is applied this could be interesting for expensive countries (or the other way around).
• Prices outside of Europe can sometimes be more cost efficient then rates in Europe.
• Prices per provider differ because of individual agreements and margins they calculate.