Universal Postal Union: A Global Postal Network

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) is a global postal network that connects over 192 member countries. It's like a big team effort, where every country works together to make sure mail and packages get delivered efficiently.

The UPU was established in 1874, with the goal of promoting international cooperation in the postal sector. This was a big deal back then, as it helped to standardize postal rates and practices across countries.

The UPU has a unique system for calculating postal rates, known as the "terminal dues" system. This system ensures that countries pay a fair share of the costs for delivering mail and packages to other countries.

With over 600,000 post offices and 4.5 million postal workers worldwide, the UPU is a massive network that plays a vital role in global communication and trade.

The Universal Postal Union has a rich history that dates back to the 19th century. The Treaty of Bern, signed by 21 countries, marked the beginning of the General Postal Union, which later became the Universal Postal Union.

The UPU's membership grew rapidly as more countries joined, and by 1878, it was renamed the Universal Postal Union. French was the sole official language until English was added as a working language in 1994.

The UPU issued rules to ensure maximum efficiency in handling international mail, including a rule that stamp values be given in numerals, as denominations written out in letters were not universally comprehensible.

The General Postal Union was established in 1874 through the Treaty of Bern, signed on October 9th of that year. This treaty brought order to the system of international mail by introducing a uniform flat rate for mailing letters anywhere in the world.

The Treaty of Bern was a result of efforts by German Postmaster-General Heinrich von Stephan, who called for an International Postal Congress in 1874. The congress met in Bern, Switzerland, and agreed to all of von Stephan's proposals.

The treaty provided for three key principles: a uniform flat rate for mailing letters, equal treatment of foreign and domestic mail, and each country retaining all money it has collected for international postage. This meant that countries no longer needed to affix postage stamps of countries that a mailpiece passed through in transit.

One of the most significant results of the Treaty of Bern was the acceptance of stamps from member nations along the entire international route. This streamlined the process of international mail and made it more efficient.

Here are the key principles of the Treaty of Bern:

These principles formed the foundation of the General Postal Union, which would later become the Universal Postal Union.

The Universal Postal Congress is the most important body of the UPU, and it's been a cornerstone of international postal services for over a century.

The first UPU Congress was held in Bern, Switzerland in 1874, with delegates from 22 countries participating. This marked the beginning of a long tradition of cooperation and discussion among postal services worldwide.

The Congress is held every four years, providing a platform for member countries to discuss key issues affecting international postal services. Delegates often receive special philatelic albums produced by member countries covering the period since the previous Congress.

These albums are a unique memento of the Congress, and they showcase the rich history and diversity of postal services from around the world.

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) has a well-defined organization and structure that enables it to effectively manage international postal services. It has 192 member countries, making it one of the largest international organizations in the world.

The UPU is governed by the Congress, which meets every four years to set policies and make decisions. The Congress is the highest decision-making body of the UPU.

The UPU has a Secretary General who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the organization. The Secretary General is currently Bishar A. Hussein.

The 2019 Extraordinary Congress was a significant event that took place in response to the China–United States trade war. The issue of terminal dues was pushed into the forefront due to the outbreak of the trade war in 2018.

The United States complained that mailing a package from China to the United States cost less than mailing the same package within the United States, resulting in the US being forced to heavily subsidize small parcels coming into the country. This led to the US announcing its withdrawal from the UPU in one year and self-declaring the rates it charged to other postal services.

The Universal Postal Union called an Extraordinary Congress for 24–26 September 2019, which was only the third time in its history. The members voted down a proposal submitted by the United States and Canada that would have allowed immediate self-declaration of terminal dues.

The UPU then unanimously passed a Franco-German compromise that allowed self-declared terminal dues of up to 70% of the domestic postage rate and increased the UPU terminal dues by 119–164%, phasing in both changes from 2021 to 2025.

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) has a pretty straightforward membership policy. All 192 member countries are part of the UPU, with 190 being sovereign states and two joint memberships of dependent territories groups.

The Vatican City is a member of the UPU, as are all United Nations member states, except for four countries. These countries are Andorra, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau.

These four countries have their mail delivered through another UPU member, with France and Spain handling mail for Andorra, and the United States handling mail for the Compact of Free Association states.

The overseas constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, including Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten, are represented as a single UPU member. The same goes for the entire British overseas territories.

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) has faced several financial and operational issues over the years. A major change was made to the Universal Postal Convention, which will now be valid indefinitely, simplifying the process for member countries to ratify it and its amendments.

The UPU's system for member countries' contributions was redesigned, with a scale developed for individual countries' contributions based on the UN's expenditure distribution key. This change resulted in a reduction in contributions for some countries, but only those whose contributions match or exceed the scale will benefit.

Germany acted as mediator in resolving the long-standing point of contention over contributions, and several countries committed to expanding their contributions. This will help stabilize the UPU's fund to finance staff pensions, which has been struggling to cover expected future payments.

Terminal dues refer to the payment made by a country to another country for delivering mail to its citizens. The 1874 treaty established that the originating country keeps all the postage revenue without compensating the destination country.

In 1906, the Italian postal service was delivering 325,000 periodicals mailed from other countries to Italy, while Italian publishers were mailing no periodicals to other countries. This imbalance led to the problem of countries being forced to remail mail through another country, causing the intermediate postal service to bear the costs of transport to the final destination.

Remailing was banned in 1924, but the issue of imbalanced flows wasn't addressed until 1969. The problem became even more pronounced after decolonization, as dozens of former European colonies entered the UPU as independent states and received more mail than they sent.

The United States was a net sender in 2010, mailing goods to other countries and making a $275 million surplus on international mail. This was partly due to low terminal dues, which gave the USPS an advantage over private postal services like DHL and FedEx.

However, low terminal dues backfired on the United States as it began to import more goods through the mail due to the growth of e-commerce. By 2015, the USPS made a net deficit on international mail for the first time, and deficits increased to $80 million in 2017.

The UPU established a new remuneration system in 2016, which the US Department of State said would improve the USPS's cost coverage for delivering packets from China and other developing countries. However, the Chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission disagreed.

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) has been tackling its budgetary issues head-on. The UPU's system for member countries' contributions was successfully redesigned, with Germany acting as mediator, resolving a long-standing point of contention.

This new system is based on a distribution key for the expenditure of the UN, and several countries, including China, Germany, Japan, and the USA, have committed to expanding their contributions. This will reduce the contributions paid by other countries, assuming stable conditions.

However, this benefit will only go to countries whose contribution matches or exceeds the scale, or those taking significant steps to get close to this target. The UPU maintains a fund to finance the pensions for its staff, which is financed by contributions from the staff and the UPU.

The fund has not grown sufficiently to cover expected future pension payments, and additional payments of around CHF3.7mn annually will be needed for at least another decade to stabilize and refinance the fund. A total of CHF1.7mn is currently financed from contributions from member countries and CHF2mn from the IB's regular budget.

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The Universal Postal Union (UPU) has made significant efforts to integrate postal services with modern technology. The UPU sponsors .post, which aims to develop international digital postal services, including e-post.

Telegraph and telephone services were once managed by the same government department as the postal system in some countries. This integration is still reflected in the International Telecommunication Union, which facilitates international electronic communication.

The UPU has appointed the .post group (DPG) to oversee the development of their new digital postal services platform.

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The International Telecommunication Union currently facilitates international electronic communication. This is a big deal, as it allows people and businesses to connect with each other across the globe.

In some countries, telegraph and later telephones came under the same government department as the postal system. This integration of services has been a long time coming.

The International Telegraph Bureau, based in Bern, is a great example of this integration. It's similar to the Universal Postal Union (UPU), which oversees postal services.

The UPU is also working on integrating postal services and the Internet. They've developed their own standards, which will enable a whole new range of international digital postal services, including e-post.

The Universal Postal Union and the World Association for the Development of Philately teamed up to create the WADP Numbering System (WNS), launched on 1 January 2002.

This system allows users to access a vast database of stamps from around the world, with over 160 countries and issuing postal entities represented.

The website displays entries for these countries, with over 25,000 stamps registered since 2002.

Many of these stamps have images, but be aware that the issuing country generally retains the copyright, so permission is needed to use them.

Fortunately, the UPU and WADP permit downloading of these images, making it easier to explore and learn about philatelic activities.

The WADP Numbering System has made it possible for philatelists to access and register stamps from all over the world, with a database that continues to grow.

Before the Universal Postal Union was established, countries had to negotiate bilateral treaties with each other to exchange mail, which often led to complex and overlapping postal arrangements.

In 1853, the United States had a postal treaty with Prussia, but some states in southern Germany sent their US-bound mail through France instead, resulting in mail having to travel on a British or a Belgian ship.

The negotiations for postal treaties could drag on for years, and the United States and France disagreed on how to divide the inland postage in 1852, leading to a treaty not being signed until 1857.

The treaty was allowed to expire, and it wasn't until 1874 that the two countries finally exchanged ratifications, just three months before the Universal Postal Union made the treaty unnecessary.

Bilateral treaties were a complex and time-consuming process for countries to establish postal arrangements with each other. In the 19th century, every pair of countries that exchanged mail had to negotiate a postal treaty, which could drag on for years.

The United States and Prussia had a postal treaty in 1853, but some German states were sending mail to the US through France instead. This created a confusing and inefficient situation.

Negotiations for postal treaties often broke down due to disagreements over inland postage rates. The US and France drafted a treaty in 1852, but it took five years to finalize and was later allowed to expire.

The US Minister to France, Elihu Washburne, was frustrated with the difficulties of making treaties with France. He complained that there was no nation more difficult to make treaties with than France.

The US and France finally exchanged ratifications of a postal treaty in July 1874, just three months before the Universal Postal Union made the treaty unnecessary.

The system of terminal dues was a topic of discussion at every future Postal Union Congress after its establishment. The 1974 Congress tripled the terminal dues to 1.5 gold francs.

Developing countries like the United States and the United Kingdom were initially considered low-cost recipients of terminal dues. However, the system created new winners and losers, with low-cost countries turning a profit on delivering international mail.

The continuing fiscal imbalances required repeated changes to the system of terminal dues. In 1988, a per-item charge was included to drive up the cost of remailing.

To resolve the problem with periodicals, the UPU adopted a "threshold" system in 1991. This system set separate letter and periodical rates for countries receiving at least 150 tonnes of mail annually.

The 1999 Postal Congress established "country-specific" terminal dues for industrialized countries, offering a lower rate to developing countries.

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) has been a topic of discussion for some time, particularly when it comes to opening up the organization to a wider range of stakeholders.

Germany has presented a proposal to discuss opening up the UPU, drawing on the regulatory experience of the Bundesnetzagentur.

The designated operators currently represent the operational rights and obligations under the Convention, as well as the economic interests of the postal sector.

This includes state postal administrations and fully privatized postal operators, depending on national circumstances.

Member countries still have differing expectations regarding the objectives and notions behind opening up the UPU.

No specific or direct steps have been agreed upon for opening up membership in advisory bodies to private-sector organizations.