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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2016 1:41:11 GMT
Have some pity for us poor sods Downunder. With the introduction of new postal rates earlier this year, the cost of an airmail letter remained the same ($2.75 to UK/Europe/US for a letter up to 50gm), however, the cost of a letter from 50gm up to 250gm jumped to $7.40.
So this means if your envelope and letter weighed say 100gm then if you send it as one item it will cost you $7.40 but if you sent the contents in two separate envelopes of around 50gm each, it would only cost you $5.50 in total. So in return for doing twice the work of a single envelope, Australia Post earns $1.90 LESS!
It gets worse ...
Stamps purchased for international post do not attract GST (our VAT/sales tax equivalent). However, stamps purchased for domestic postal use, do. This has necessitated the printing of two types of stamps - those with 'International POST' printed on them (which are GST free) and those without that have an eleventh of their face value (10% GST) allocated to GST.
While Australia Post 'recommends' that you only use 'International POST' stamps for international mail, you are still allowed to put domestic stamps on the envelope to make up the total cost, HOWEVER, when you do, you must ADD 10% of the face value of the domestic stamps used in order to meet the full international rate.
For example, on one letter this week I only had $1.75 worth of international stamps (a $1, a 50 cent and a 25 cent stamp). So I adhered a domestic stamp for $1 which in turn required another 10 cent stamp to compensate for the GST paid on the domestic $1 stamp that doesn't count towards the total international postal charge of $2.75.
So I hope that this explains the sudden leap in the lunatic rate in Australia.
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Post by distractedmom on Apr 8, 2016 3:00:36 GMT
Have some pity for us poor sods Downunder. With the introduction of new postal rates earlier this year, the cost of an airmail letter remained the same ($2.75 to UK/Europe/US for a letter up to 50gm), however, the cost of a letter from 50gm up to 250gm jumped to $7.40. So this means if your envelope and letter weighed say 100gm then if you send it as one item it will cost you $7.40 but if you sent the contents in two separate envelopes of around 50gm each, it would only cost you $5.50 in total. So in return for doing twice the work of a single envelope, Australia Post earns $1.90 LESS! It gets worse ... Stamps purchased for international post do not attract GST (our VAT/sales tax equivalent). However, stamps purchased for domestic postal use, do. This has necessitated the printing of two types of stamps - those with 'International POST' printed on them (which are GST free) and those without that have an eleventh of their face value (10% GST) allocated to GST. While Australia Post 'recommends' that you only use 'International POST' stamps for international mail, you are still allowed to put domestic stamps on the envelope to make up the total cost, HOWEVER, when you do, you must ADD 10% of the face value of the domestic stamps used in order to meet the full international rate. For example, on one letter this week I only had $1.75 worth of international stamps (a $1, a 50 cent and a 25 cent stamp). So I adhered a domestic stamp for $1 which in turn required another 10 cent stamp to compensate for the GST paid on the domestic $1 stamp that doesn't count towards the total international postal charge of $2.75. So I hope that this explains the sudden leap in the lunatic rate in Australia. I need a map. Also, I'll be grateful for our Forever stamps.
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Post by hoyabella on Apr 8, 2016 13:35:55 GMT
So this means if your envelope and letter weighed say 100gm then if you send it as one item it will cost you $7.40 but if you sent the contents in two separate envelopes of around 50gm each, it would only cost you $5.50 in total. So in return for doing twice the work of a single envelope, Australia Post earns $1.90 LESS! This is similar to what happens in Italy for domestic and European mail and indeed, once, I divided a letter into two envelopes (I was in a hurry to have the first part delivered and took time to write the second part...) I can afford spending 2,70 € instead of 1 € when I exceed the lowest weight range (20 g only) but this is something that really annoyseme, because it is irrational!
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Post by sgtstretch on Apr 8, 2016 14:05:09 GMT
Holy crap, that is stupidly complicated. What is the reasoning behind all this?
So just to verify, a $1 domestic stamp is really only a $0.90 stamp if used for International mail, but good for $1 domestic?
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Post by MKB on Apr 8, 2016 14:46:06 GMT
It seems like when they say add 10% to the value of the domestic stamp when used internationally, they mean to count it higher than face value since the GST paid on that stamp isn't due for international mail.
So if the letter was over 100gm and you had two $2.75 international stamps, you would be short $1.90. Using domestic stamps to make up the difference, you would purchas $1.73 in stamps, but pay $1.91 including GST (assuming GST is on top of the face value of the stamp).
Otherwise you would be paying GST twice on a transaction that didn't require GST.
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Post by chojo on Apr 8, 2016 18:07:20 GMT
I wonder if this is why my uncle in Adelaide no longer writes to people he was never good at maths!
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Post by Mia on Apr 8, 2016 21:30:28 GMT
Ouch.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2016 5:18:51 GMT
Holy crap, that is stupidly complicated. What is the reasoning behind all this? So just to verify, a $1 domestic stamp is really only a $0.90 stamp if used for International mail, but good for $1 domestic? Yes, Phil you're right. But to be more precise the postage value is $0.91 + GST of $0.09 = $1.00 as GST is 10% of the base cost of goods or services, not the total. As to the reasoning ... it's a bit difficult to work that one out. Might have a bit to do with iodine deficiency. The mind boggles at the thought of what might happen if GST is ever raised in the future. Think of the connotations over the change-over period. Someone will have a wow of a time working that one through.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2016 5:27:07 GMT
I wonder if this is why my uncle in Adelaide no longer writes to people he was never good at maths! Well, with all my adverse comments about Australia Post, I should record that last January my dear mum (93 years old) sent a letter from Australia to me in England without a single stamp on it and lo' and behold both Australia Post and The Royal Mail dutifully delivered the letter to our door in Cheshunt. I was pretty impressed with that. Mum's logic wasn't really flawed. Every time I go to live in England I leave her with a stack of stamped addressed envelopes for her to send. This time around I hadn't left quite enough. When I asked her why no stamps she said that she's never had to put any on an envelope to me before so she thought the service was free! Priceless ... but don't tell your uncle, Chris.
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Post by distractedmom on Apr 9, 2016 19:53:54 GMT
I wonder if this is why my uncle in Adelaide no longer writes to people he was never good at maths! Well, with all my adverse comments about Australia Post, I should record that last January my dear mum (93 years old) sent a letter from Australia to me in England without a single stamp on it and lo' and behold both Australia Post and The Royal Mail dutifully delivered the letter to our door in Cheshunt. I was pretty impressed with that. Mum's logic wasn't really flawed. Every time I go to live in England I leave her with a stack of stamped addressed envelopes for her to send. This time around I hadn't left quite enough. When I asked her why no stamps she said that she's never had to put any on an envelope to me before so she thought the service was free! Priceless ... but don't tell your uncle, Chris. That's a great story about your mum, Murfie!
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Post by chojo on Apr 10, 2016 13:22:34 GMT
I wonder if this is why my uncle in Adelaide no longer writes to people he was never good at maths! Well, with all my adverse comments about Australia Post, I should record that last January my dear mum (93 years old) sent a letter from Australia to me in England without a single stamp on it and lo' and behold both Australia Post and The Royal Mail dutifully delivered the letter to our door in Cheshunt. I was pretty impressed with that. Mum's logic wasn't really flawed. Every time I go to live in England I leave her with a stack of stamped addressed envelopes for her to send. This time around I hadn't left quite enough. When I asked her why no stamps she said that she's never had to put any on an envelope to me before so she thought the service was free! Priceless ... but don't tell your uncle, Chris. I think that's what mum calls a senior moment, something she's very well acquainted with at the moment! (Although I must admit I've had a few myself)
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Post by sharmon202 on Apr 10, 2016 15:59:57 GMT
Love the story, you are a good son.
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silverbreeze
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Post by silverbreeze on Apr 12, 2016 1:03:11 GMT
Wait my brains hurt Are you saying you pay $1.00 tax included? Because that is not how USA sales tax works at all A $1 stamp with 10% sales tax costs $1.10. If our international is tax free using the same situation I would be over paying by 0.10 Brains hurting
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Post by MKB on Apr 12, 2016 4:08:30 GMT
Okay, with a little research it seems I got it all backwards. For those of us not familiar with the system, if you purchase a 60 cent stamp, you are getting about lets say 55 cents worth of postage and the rest of the face value is GST. So, if you use that 60 cent stamp on an international letter, the postal system is only getting 55 cents of postage (even though the stamp says 60 cents), so they want their full fee for international postage, thus the stamp only counts as about 55 cents. Yes, you paid the GST, but the postal system doesn't get that portion. Also, the government gets bonus GST when you use domestic postage for international letters.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2016 10:36:41 GMT
Okay, with a little research it seems I got it all backwards. For those of us not familiar with the system, if you purchase a 60 cent stamp, you are getting about lets say 55 cents worth of postage and the rest of the face value is GST. So, if you use that 60 cent stamp on an international letter, the postal system is only getting 55 cents of postage (even though the stamp says 60 cents), so they want their full fee for international postage, thus the stamp only counts as about 55 cents. Yes, you paid the GST, but the postal system doesn't get that portion. Also, the government gets bonus GST when you use domestic postage for international letters. Yep, you've got it precisely. But isn't it a ridiculous convoluted sysem? And the delivery system that the payment is for is just as ridiculous - when one considers the delivery times we are currently experiencing. On the other side of the coin, perhaps we should be grateful to still have a public mail service that still delivers letters.
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