I really am asking, not judging.... Are these fees protectionist type tariffs, or are they simple taxes being piled on?
No, they're not tariffs, but fees in respect of a "service" provided. The Royal Mail was, for several hundred years (500, in fact) a department of government. In the last few years, it has gradually been privatised, with the government holding (originally a "golden share") reducing to nothing as of last year.
This link
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...tice-143-a-guide-for-international-post-users gives a fair idea of how this all works. Section 3.5 describes the Royal Mail role in all of this.
It is my own view that, whilst RM do something, it isn't worth the £8 fee. I'm also puzzled by how this works. If RM are, as stated, paying the VAT and/or duties on the recipient's behalf to HMRC, and then recouping the actual costs plus their fee of £8 from him, what happens if he decides not to go to the Post Office and pay up? The implication there is, that whilst he won't get his hands on his goods, the RM will be down the amount they've paid plus their fee. I can't see they'd get it back by, for example, auctioning off unclaimed stuff, and I would suppose that getting it back from HMRC, if at all possible, would be an expensive business (perhaps then worth an £8 fee). Lots of things would be "in limbo", for sure.
As far as the future is concerned, no-one can at present say what will happen with EU imports. In theory, once outside the EU, the UK could be free to reduce VAT, but I can't see the Chancellor foregoing a nice little earner like that.
This is an incredibly abstruse and complex subject, and perhaps better suited to a separate (albeit, for many, very boring) thread!
Meanwhile, I have to report that my V1 Single Edge continues to give complete satisfaction.