From the New York Times:
THE Postal Service is taking the “ship” out of shipping, and thousands of small online booksellers are bracing for trouble.
The post office said last month that as of mid-May, it would no longer transport goods internationally via cargo ships for individual customers. These so-called surface deliveries have been the crucial method by which booksellers have sold books to foreign markets because the cost is about one-third that of air mail.
Analysts said Amazon.com would not be affected by the change; international book shipments represent a small fraction of its business, and because, like other high-volume businesses, it can qualify for discounts on foreign shipments.
But many thousands of smaller used- and rare-book merchants say they will suffer, since they rely on foreign demand.
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