Dear Gavin, You might like to remind the USA Post Office about their role in the formation of the Universal Postal Union -- in 1863. I understand that the standard for weighing postal items has been metric units since then.
Today's USA Post Office appears to be using 'hidden metric' when they accept an item for international post it appears that they are weighing the item in pounds and ounces, then taking them into a back room to re-weigh them so that the parcel can be sent internationally in kilograms. This quotation is from: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Postal_Union> ** The Universal Postal Union (UPU) a international organization that coordinates postal policies between member nations, and hence the world-wide postal system . Each member country agrees to the same set of terms for conducting international postal duties. Prior to the UPU, a country would have to have a separate postal treaty for each country that it wished to carry international mail to or from. The United States called for an international postal congress, which was held in 1863 . This led to the creation of the Universal Postal Union, the oldest international organization and was created in 1874 , under the name "General Postal Union," as a result of the Treaty of Berne signed on October 9 ,1874. In 1878 the name was changed to "Universal Postal Union." The UPU established that (1) there should be a more or less uniform flat rate to mail a letter anywhere in the world; (2) postal authorities should give equal treatment to foreign and domestic mail; and (3) each country should retain all monies it collected for international postage. ** Cheers, Pat Naughtin LCAMS Geelong, Australia Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online newsletter, 'Metrication matters'. You can subscribe by sending an email containing the words subscribe Metrication matters to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- on 8/3/04 5:58 AM, Gavin Young at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Today I sent an e-mail to the USA post office using their website's online > contact form. Others on this listserver may wish to send similar e-mails. Here > is a copy of my e-mail: > > Suggestion: > > UPS and FedEx websites allow people to calculate shipping in metric units (kg > and cm) as well as US Customary Units, however the post office web site > calculator does not provide the option of using metric units. I am a big fan > of > metric and I request that the post office update their website shipping rate > calculator (for both domestic, international, and business rates) to allow > calculations using metric units. I also request that the printed rate sheets > be > available using metric units. I further ask that all of the public scales in > the post office diplay the weight (or mass) in metric units as well as US > Customary Units. The digital scales at the UPS and FedEx stores have a > selector > button for that switches the displayed weight/mass from US Customary to metric > and back. > > The USA federal government has declared metric to be the preferred system of > measurement for the USA and by the year 2010 the European Union will no longer > allow any imports of products labeled with US customary units, only metric > units will be allowed on the labels. More information about metric is > available > at my website at http://www.xprt.net/~hightech/metric.htm . > > Please begin providing metric options on your scales and shipping rate > calculators, otherwise you will continue to loose your competitiveness. > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > I'm thinking of posting targetted form letters to my websites so that > individuals and organizations can easily petition various businesses and > government agencies to make use of metric. Are there any suggestions? > > Quoting john mercer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > >> In the U S do most post offices have digital scales? The reason i ask this >> is because if they do wouldn't it be quite easy to metricate the postal >> service. On July 1 1979 Canada post went metric at a cost of 1.5 million >> dollars. At that time i don't know if digital scales were available. I >> remember going in to a post office just after the metric change and the clerk >> had a little trouble using the scale. If the USPS uses digital scales it >> would probably be quite easy to metricate it. When Canada post changed they >> called a one oz letter 30 g. I have another question in the States if you >> mail a parcel and use your bank card to pay for it when you get the receit >> does it give the weight of the parcel. If it does how easy would it be to >> change it from lbs to kg. i wonder how hard it would be to change the rates >> from pounds and ounces to metric. > > > Gavin Young > http://www.xprt.net/~hightech , http://www.renewableelectricity.com, > http://www.electric-automobile.com >
