Does anyone remember fanfiction from like 2001 to 2004 tho?
-wacky, highly out of character ‘sleepovers’ with the villains of the series
-not bothering to research the culture the series originated from (we live in Japan but for some reason we’re celebrating a westernized version of Christmas?)
-sugar highs??? the entire cast has eaten sugar and now randomness ensues!!1!
-really surreal oneshots taking a completely illogical idea to the highest possible level played completely for laughs (re: maybe Harry was so good at flying because He Was A Broom All Along)
-user guides for characters (as if they’re adoptable robots)
-disclaimer at the beginning of the story, end of the story,
used as page breaks in the middle of the story I DO NOT OWN THIS PLEASE
DON’T SUE I’M DIRT POOR
-author’s notes at the beginning of the story, end of
the story, used as page breaks in the middle of the story, LOL I WROTE
THIS AT ONE IN THE MORNING PLEASE REVIEW
-nutshell/condensed retellings of the series, again usually humorous
-AUs where everything except the main character’s names are completely different that have no real connections to the series (High School AUs are EVERYWHERE)
-The writer’s favourite character isn’t dead and the rest of the cast questions it once and then never mentions it again
-the writer talking to the characters in script form before the story actually starts
“R/R! Don’t like, don’t read! Flames will be fed to (insert fandom reference here) XP XD”
-truth or dare fic where all the characters are in a game show kinda thing where the commenters get to send in requests for the next chapter
It’s like ending network neutrality/fair peering arrangements for postage, basically??
The most basic summary I can come up with is that mail going from China to the US via postal services is now going to cost as much as mail going from the US to China does. Until now, senders in China (and other lower wealth nations) paid lower prices to ship, which is why it’s often cheaper to buy things and have them shipped directly from China to the US, (eg AliExpress) than buy things from US sellers (eg Ebay) and have them shipped within the US. That’s the intended goal: by equalizing the shipping costs for US and international sellers, hypothetically US sellers will see increased business and profits.
But, practically speaking, privately owned shipping companies won’t be held to account by this change in federal policy, and will be able to keep right on doing reduced shipping from China to the US, and then will have all the leverage they need to get the USPS shut down. Without the USPS as a price cap, they’ll be able to charge whatever they damned well please for their services, utterly unopposed, and in a world where so many of us buy so much online for delivery, they’ll make the kind of profit that is unholy. Because they’ll be selling a necessity and pricing it as a luxury.
It also raises a lot of questions for rural residents. Private shipping is notorious for refusing to deliver to low-density areas, shoving their packages off on the USPS. This is because the USPS is legally required to delivery to all residences within any US postal code. Private shipping can look at a low population area, and just say, “fuck it.”
And they will because low density shipping isn’t profitable.
So, you’ll see a lot of people saying in the upcoming months that this change is for the betterment of US business owners, so that they can compete with Chinese businesses. That’s where all the supporting arguments are going to come from.
But it’s bullshit because private shipping will not be held to these standards. They were never members of the UPU in the first place.
Also, the UPU handles price setting agreements for roughly 200 countries, (colored green in this map). The US is withdrawing to negotiate “fairer” pricing with China, but currently just doesn’t even have fucking plans for the 190+ other countries. We’re about to having an international shipping crisis with everyone from Canada and Mexico, to the EU and Philippines.
screaming into the void since '89 
