On 2009/03/19, at 5:12 PM, Martin Vlietstra wrote:
Apart from the USA, do any other countries use ounces for their postal
system. The UK has been using metric units since the 1970's
Dear Robert, Martin, and All,
Australia has used grams and kilograms for letters and parcels since
the 1970s, too. In fact, I don't know of any postal service that
doesn't use the metric system as the basis of their services. I even
suspect that the United States Postal Service (USPS) actually uses
metric system units but chooses to hide this fact from their citizens.
I have looked at some postal rates that the USPS uses for mail to
Australia (below Professor Bushnell's email) and compared the USPS
figures with their metric system equivalents (in red).
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf
Of Robert H. Bushnell
Sent: 18 March 2009 20:36
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:43989] postage in grams
2009 March 18
On 2009 March 13 I asked the US Postal Service:
Where can I find postage rates in grams?
When will postage rates be in grams?
From [email protected]
Steven S of USPS answered:
postage pricing is determined by ounces. We do not have
any plans of changing the pricing system to grams.
I then asked:
why USPS does not comply with Executive Order 12770 and
the Metric Conversion Act of 1975?
Steven S of USPS then replied:
we do not have any information pertaining to compliance
with Executive Order 12770 or Metric Conversion Act of 1975.
He then said
You are welcome to contact your Post Office for any
additional Information. Based on your zIP Code of 80303,
the contact information for your Post Office is:
FLAT IRONS ANNEX
1800 38TH ST
BOULDER CO 80301
Can any of you tell me how to proceed?
Robert Bushnell
I think that every country in the world uses the metric system units,
grams and kilograms, for all postage. As I said earlier, I think that
the USA is exceptional in that the USPS chooses to hide this fact from
their citizens.
Consider these postage rates for mail from the USA to Australia (taken
from http://pe.usps.com/text/Imm/ab_012.htm#ep1572941 ):
Airmail M-Bags (260) — Direct Sack to One Addressee
Weight not over 11 lbs. (This looks a lot like 5 kilograms to me)
Weight Limit: 66 pounds (And this strongly suggests 30 kilograms)
In the category 'Size Limits (216.5)', it says, 'An item must be large
enough to hold on its face the postage and the plastic pouch that
carries the Global Express Guaranteed Air Waybill/Shipping Invoice
(shipping label).'
The shipping label is approximately 5.5 inches high (140 mm) and 9.5
inches long (240 mm), and the plastic pouch that carries it is
approximately 7 inches high (180 mm) and 12 inches long (300 mm). (It
would appear that the size of the shipping label is an international
standard size that is exact in metic system units but only approximate
in inches.)
And for Size Limits (223.2) the Maximum length and girth combined: 79
inches (2006.6 looks a lot like 2 metres to me that was rounded to the
nearest inch)
For letters:Weight not over 3.5 ozs (strongly suggests an
international standard of 100 grams).
Granted, there are other amounts that do not appear at first sight to
be round metric system values but the few that I have given here are
probably enough to suspect that the USPS approaches their pricing with
a copy of the Universal Postal Union set of metric system guidelines
in their hand as they dumb down the values for the citizens of the
USA. The USA has been a founding member of the Universal Postal Union
since 1874 (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Postal_Union
wherte you will see that the UPU was, in fact, started at the
suggestion of the USA).As further evidence, you could note the use of
the word, approximately, which suggests to me that the inch values
have been converted from their metric system originals.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has
helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the
modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they
now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for
their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many
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and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA.
Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST,
and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com
for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected]
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