I don’t know what led me to do this, mostly a suggestion on ‘A World of Snailmail’; but I’ve always wondered a little bit about what people around the world pay for postage compared to here in Canada.
When I saw that someone was paying 5 Rupees for Local and 25 Rupees for International letters in India and in Canada it’s closer to 40 and 120 Rupees for the same, it makes me wonder about a number of things. And that’s good.
There is something that has puzzled me over the years, and to which I have never heard a good answer. I can buy 450g of grapes this week for 2.50 Canadian dollars. This price includes the cost of growing, harvesting, packaging and shipping them 8,000km (roughly 6,000 miles), getting them to the store, stocking, advertising and selling them.
And yet if I were to write on a piece of paper, fold it in half and put it in an envelope, it would cost me the same to mail it anywhere outside the country. Even though it weighs less than 20g.
Anyway, here’s an overview of what we are currently paying in CANADA in January 2016.
Domestic Rates
| for letters less than 30g | .85 CAD | .56 Euro | .61 USD |
| for letters 30 – 50g | 1.20 CAD | .78 Euro | .86 USD |
to the United States
| for letters less than 30g | 1.20 CAD | .78 Euro | .86 USD |
| for letters 30 – 50g | 1.80 CAD | 1.18 Euro | 1.28 USD |
International
| for letters less than 30g | 2.50 CAD | 1.63 Euro | 1.78 USD |
| for letters 30 – 50g | 3.60 CAD | 2.35 Euro | 2.55 USD |
Below is a breakdown of what our rates here convert to in several other countries. I mostly chose places I recieve and send mail to regularly just to compare. Although it’s a bit much, personally I found it kind of interesting. (note: the two prices are for letters up to 30g and letters 30-50g)
| Country | Domestic |
US | International |
| Australian Dollar | .85 1.20 | 1.20 1.80 | 2.51 3.62 |
| Brazilian Real | 2.45 3.46 | 3.46 5.20 | 7.21 10.38 |
| Chinese Yuan | 3.98 5.62 | 5.63 8.43 | 11.71 16.86 |
| Indian Rupee | 41.00 58.00 | 58.00 87.00 | 121.00 174.00 |
| South Korean Won | 730.00 1031.00 | 1031.00 1546.00 | 2147.00 3091.00 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 2.50 3.54 | 3.54 5.31 | 7.38 10.62 |
| Phillippine Peso | 20.00 41.00 | 41.00 61.00 | 85.00 122.00 |
| Russian Ruble | 46.00 65.00 | 65.00 97.00 | 135.00 195.00 |
| Singapore Dollar | .86 1.22 | 1.22 1.83 | 2.54 3.65 |
Those grapes seem awfully cheap, can you mail me some c.o.d?
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I’ll send some through the magic of the internet, way cheaper :)
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Finally …you’ve presented what I’ve been thinking all along.
so, I mailed a postcard to France with more than enough postage. 10 days later it’s back in MY mailbox, never left the country. It didn’t go into the sorter up side down and the postal supervisor looking at it cannot explain why either. I ask for them to try again and re*mail it and they refuse unless I put another $!.20 in stamps…..over the original stamps. I exclaimed why do I have to pay twice for the service I never received the first time! At this rate ..if I follow their logic….it’s cheaper for me to fly to France and hand deliver it myself!
LONG LIVE INCOWRIMO!
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