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US Tariffs

FatherWes

FatherWes

Wes
Just a heads up.

I just bought some motorbike stuff from a company in Germany. Shipping with UPS.
I expected an invoice for duty, taxes & of course, the brokerage fee.
I didn’t look at the invoice (from UPS) closely enough.
Canadian Duty was there, taxes were there along with the brokerage fee. But there was another line item. Other duties and fees.
I googled it.
The package was routed through Kentucky. It never left the airport, next stop Richmond BC.
Apparently, if your shipment enters the US, you pay the US Tariff. Regardless of the actual destination of the package.
 
Interesting. I had a package from China shipped via UPS so it went to Anchorage then Kentucky.
Value was $396. UPS invoice was $26
The "Other Government Charges" was approx. 2% of the value so I have no idea what that was actually for.
This was my UPS invoice:
1744823209561.png
 
I suspect at this point even the people in charge of implementing the tarrifs don't even know what the hell is going on, so no doubt the shipping companies haven't a clue either. They're probably just tacking them on just because then can get away with it with all the chaos and confusion.
 
The problem with both UPS and FedEx and I'm not sure about DHL is that they use the concept of Hubs to create efficient transfer of goods.

So you may ship something FedEx from Victoria to Ontario.

It leaves the FedEx Hub office here and goes to one of their distribution Hubs in the US since there may not be a direct FedEx flight to Ontario but there is one at 3AM from Memphis SuperHub.

And the Vancouver Flight that stopped in Victoria arrives at the Memphis SuperHub at 1AM. Then at 7AM the package is in Ontario and routed however to the receiver.

That's potentially now two instances where the stupid tariffs can be applied. The very nature of the overnight service half way around the world requires these Hubs and packages actually travelling a much longer distance than from Point A to Point B.
 
Dan Dubeau said:
I suspect at this point even the people in charge of implementing the tarrifs don't even know what the hell is going on, so no doubt the shipping companies haven't a clue either. They're probably just tacking them on just because then can get away with it with all the chaos and confusion.
Click to expand...
Exactly this. One CBSA officer I asked said the rules keep changing so fast they can't keep up, to enforce them.

I've heard of one load of straw that got dinged $1900 at the booths, and a load of grain that got dinged $2200. The dumb part of the grain load was the NY farmer questioned why HE had to pay the tariff. I'm certainly no expert on the matter
 
I visited the cbsa office in Calgary 3 times last week to clear a package (not fault of cbsa, I was given some bad info)

They definitely were lost on the tariff situation, they said so many changes it was hard to keep up

UPS wanted 107$ on that package, cost me 17$ plus gas, I wasn't working so the time was moot
 
This opens us up to potentially huge charges if package enters the US - it is now 145% for China but Trump wants it 245% and who knows it may go to 1000%.

So you order a DRO from China for $300 and then suddenly you get a bill for $3300+++

I am not sure what would one do in such case - refuse shipment? This has to be clarified sometime in the near future.

Part of the reason US is so over the place is why I am starting to reconsider mountaineering in the US and simply go to South America instead where (!!!) it feels more stable.
 
One of our customers got a bill for a 25% tariff on a load, 2-3 weeks AFTER it had been delivered to the USA. From their customs broker.

It's such a mess. Trying to figure out which countries are charging tariffs is one thing. But each product has their own category or customs code, however you say that, and it's tricky to find out what codes get tariffs now.

So country of origin could add a tariff. The product itself could add a tariff. The day of the week could add a tariff
 
For the most part the tariff is based on the country of origin of the product. For example if you order a made in Poland 5C set-tru collet chuck from the USA there should not be any tariff applied.
 
I guess the whole idea of something being "in bond" is getting lost now? Used to be that transiting a country wasn't considered importing. i.e. goods trucked from Mexico to Canada are not taxed / dutied / tariffed as they are not entering the US as a final destination. Seems like UPS and others are up to their usual games and screwing the average consumer.

And @David that invoice is so painful for me to read, how are you charged brokerage fees twice? Yet another reason to avoid UPS as much as humanly possible. They make their invoice so opaque and hope you don't question the vague descriptions.
 
Mike R said:
I guess the whole idea of something being "in bond" is getting lost now? Used to be that transiting a country wasn't considered importing. i.e. goods trucked from Mexico to Canada are not taxed / dutied / tariffed as they are not entering the US as a final destination. Seems like UPS and others are up to their usual games and screwing the average consumer.

And @David that invoice is so painful for me to read, how are you charged brokerage fees twice? Yet another reason to avoid UPS as much as humanly possible. They make their invoice so opaque and hope you don't question the vague descriptions.
Click to expand...
I wasn't charged twice. The highlighted numbers are the totals.
5.74+8.03=$13.77
11.65+0.58= $12.23
 
I bought some steel yesterday at a local place. They said the prices have gone up. I asked "So Canada makes the steel and the US puts import tariffs on it and the price goes up in Canada...really? Yep
 
Mike R said:
I guess the whole idea of something being "in bond" is getting lost now? Used to be that transiting a country wasn't considered importing. i.e. goods trucked from Mexico to Canada are not taxed / dutied / tariffed as they are not entering the US as a final destination.
Click to expand...
I assume you can still do that? I was wondering if UPS was bonded to enable them to move packages in between countries?

It's not overly onerous but for single loads someone bonds the load up here, then before you deliver you have to get the bond broken.

I don't know if being a bonded carrier means everything you move is covered by a bond
 
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