"How can the post office do it for $5"
National postal carriers, like Canada Post, USPS, Royal Post etc etc, are members of the UPU, universal postal union, and abide by their guidelines
http://www.upu.int
Couriers are, as mentioned, private companies
As such they can, and do, charge whatever they think the market will bear
Does that suck? Only to people that are unknowledgable. People up here have been railing about this for a long time ... if UPS really gave a rats patootie, they would have changed this long ago
In my opinion, UPS can offer great rates to the US, knowing they can make up for small-ish national losses from their International gains(gouging) ... it is no different than making stuff here in NA, sending it to China to be packaged, then sending it all back here for sale ... dumb? yes. Big bucks? yes. It all comes down to positive revenue, and obviously business is good, they are still running, so there must be $$$ in it
"A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it."
George W. Bush