International postage rates include a delivery charge that is paid by the (postal service? postal operator?) of the sender’s country to that of the recipient’s country. Previously, the delivery charge had been set rather low by the UPU, considering the situation of developing countries. However, at the Extraordinary Congress of the UPU in 2019, the convention provision governing the delivery charge was amended with the result that the charge increased significantly. It is necessary to revise some international postage rates so as to properly reflect this increase in the delivery charge paid to other countries.

The postage rates for small packets (Air, SAL and Surface) and related special rates (International ePacket, International ePacket Light, priority bulk airmail and nonpriority bulk airmail) will be revised.

The postage rates for small packets and related special rates will be revised because only the convention provision that mainly concerns the delivery charge for small packets was amended.

Because of the expansion of e-commerce, the volume of small packets and other mail containing goods has increased all over the world. However, in major countries like the United States, the delivery charge determined by the previous convention was not sufficient to cover delivery costs. The convention provision that kept the delivery charge for small packets at a low level, especially for countries like China, had to be amended. As a result, at the Extraordinary Congress of the UPU in 2019, the overall delivery charge for small packets was increased and the convention was amended to allow each country to determine its own delivery charge to cover its delivery costs.

The delivery charge is calculated on the basis of both the “postage rate per kg” and the “postage rate per item”. The amendment of the convention in 2019 increased the “postage rate per item” significantly, so the rate for lightweight items will increase much more than that for medium-weight or heavy items.

There is no plan to revise the postage rates for other international mail items at this time.
Currently, the delivery charges for ordinary mail items (letters, postcards, printed matter and so on), excluding small packets, are being discussed by the UPU. We are planning to review our postage rates for these items based on the outcome of that discussion.

Because the delivery charges of the United States will increase much more than those of other countries. Therefore, we will separate the postage rates for items to the U.S. from the current Zone 2 and define Zone 4 as a new postage rate zone. In addition, the U.S.'s external territories such as Guam and Saipan will have the same delivery charges so these territories will be integrated into Zone 4.

All ordinary mail items (letters, postcards, printed matter and so on) are now classified in Zone 4, but the postage rates for these items are the same as those of Zone 2.
The postage rates for EMS and parcels will not change.

They are scheduled to be changed effective Thursday, April 1, 2021.