Postal Letter

What agreement was there between countries to deliver postal mail between them?

What agreement was there between countries to deliver postal mail between them? And how do they get reimbursed? For example if I send a letter to England - I buy US Postal stamps. Now once it gets to England - what incentive does the English Postal system have in delivering my mail?

Public Comments

1. The Universal Postal Union, originally the General Postal Union, was created in 1874 to facilitate international mail. In general, the country where the mail originates keeps the entirety of the postage. Recently a system has emerged whereby countries are reimbursed according to the difference between the total weight of international mail sent versus received.