Why Are American Taxpayers Subsidizing Chinese Companies?

Every package from China only costs $1.50 to ship. The US Post Office charges about $14 or more.  American Taxpayers make up the difference. 

Jayme Smaldone, owner of Mighty Mug and featured in the video above, was also recently interviewed by Kenny Malone of NPR. Here they discuss when Smaldone discovered his mug was being counterfeited in China and shipped to American at taxpayer expense.

MALONE: A few years ago, knockoff versions of this so-called Mighty Mug started popping up all over the world. And so Jayme bought one of these.

SMALDONE: For $5.69, free shipping from China.

MALONE: Five dollars and 69 cents total, including shipping. And Jayme turns to his shipping guy and says, wait; how much would it cost us just to ship this same mug across the street?

SMALDONE: He told me it’s going to cost us about 6.30 to ship this item across the street.

MALONE: Somehow, Jayme’s foreign competitor could manufacture and deliver a mug to a U.S. address for less than he pays to just ship the mug. When he started to look into how this was possible, Jayme discovered the answer had to do with a quiet, powerful organization called the Universal Postal Union.