[kernelbugs]

I think the JP to US prices increased specifically, and more than any other price increases Japan post might have made. Japan Post removed the US from an existing shipping zone and marked it as its own shipping zone with higher prices. I have a statement from a US shipping provider (PirateShip) about the increase of outgoing USPS shipping prices that likely also explains the increase of incoming international mail as well:

> In late 2019, the US government threatened to pull out of the "Universal Postal Union," which is the international treaty that sets what postal services pay each other to trade mail & packages. This started a negotiation where the USA required the ability to "self-declare" the shipping rates it would charge other countries, instead of them being set by the treaty. This resulted in other countries "self-declaring" rates, too... all of which made international shipping through USPS way more expensive than it already was.

[NicoJuicy]

So, it's directly caused by china using the USPS as e-commerce driver ( subsidized shipping by the western world), which caused the US to back out.

It's an old union and it didn't take e-commerce into account. For better or worse, something had to change.