I was always under the impression that the UPU rules were (1) originally intended for letter-mail, not "stuff", and (2) originally intended to reduce USPS' last

I was always under the impression that the UPU rules were (1) originally intended for letter-mail, not "stuff", and (2) originally intended to reduce USPS' last-mile delivery costs in other countries (which had to be negotiated country-by-country before). If I live in America and my mother lives in some far-flung country, the idea is that we should be able to send each other letters at a cost that is proportional to typical incomes in our nations. Both e-mail and e-commerce totally turned this on its head -- letter volumes went down, and we started buying things from China (as opposed to making things and sending them there). I agree that something needs to change, but I'm worried that the end result is other countries will just stop accepting Americans' mail. It's worth noting that China is maybe #80 in GDP per capita?