How Un Mail Is Handled Through The USPS

Have you ever wondered how mail from the United Nations is handled through our postal system?

According to a note about this that I just read in a copy of The STAMP WHOLESALER from August 10, 1968, the United Nations Post Office is a "station" of the New York Post Office. The U.N. keeps the money it makes from stamp sales to collectors, but all of its mail going through the New York Post Office is counted and paid for by the U.N.

There doesn't seem to be any reason to think it's being done any differently today.

I wonder what their budget (the UN) is for their "Postal Administration"? Are they in the same boat as the USPS complaining that the use of e-mail and other modern communication devices are creating reduced mail flow, resulting in deficits that demand increased postage rates? Or is the fact that the majority of stamps from the UN are destined for collectors rather than postal use, make it a more profitable program?

If it's like everything else the UN does, it is probably underwritten primarily by the American taxpayers!

UNPA is a very profitable program for the UN, because the actually delivery is done by the member nation where the UN post office is located (in this case, New York City).

Because of the large amount of UN postage available in the wholesale market, there were a number of people buying large amounts of UN postage at below face, and then using them for mailings and dropping them off at UNPA to be delivered by USPS. This went on for a few decades. A few years back, USPS and UNPA made an agreement to limit the maximum number of pieces of mail someone could drop off in one visit, thereby making it uneconomical for private large volume mailers. That pretty much cratered the wholesale market for mint UN stamps.

Actually, USPS is not funded by taxpayer money. As you can guess, the USPS execs were getting some pretty nice bonuses until the last 2-3 years.