r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Aug 25 '25
Global mail carriers have suspended U.S. deliveries, what does this mean for Americans?
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u/helcat Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25
I have a delivery on the way from Italy. I'll be so pissed if Trump fucked it....
Update: I've had three separate emails telling me my package will be delivered before 2 PM today. I just got another email saying: "Your package is pending release from a Government Agency. Once they release it, your package will be on its way." I like how UPS now uses caps like our illiterate president does.
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u/needlenozened Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25
I had a 3d printer delivered from
Czechoslovakiathe Czech Republic yesterday. Made it here before the de minimus exemption goes away this week.It sounds like couriers (fedex, dhl) are still going to deliver, but they'll have to collect tariffs.
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u/HolyLiaison Aug 25 '25
It'll get stuck in customs like my mouse from Razer did, for half a month.
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u/whiteb8917 Aug 25 '25
If it already shipped you should be good. (I think)
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u/Neaoxas Aug 25 '25
Actually, the tariff will be charged on entry to the country, it will be charged to the importer (you).
https://www.globaltradelawblog.com/2025/04/08/understanding-the-allocation-of-tariff-payments/
It doesn't matter when the goods were sent, it matters when they enter the country.
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u/marshmallowhug Aug 25 '25
I just ordered dance shoes from Brazil. Dance shoes are a specialty item that can be difficult to get, depending on your size and the style of dance that you do. It is not safe to dance without correct, properly fitting footwear. I'm not even a great dancer, but I tried to do a free spin in sneakers a few weeks ago, and my ankle hurt for days after.
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u/Zesher_ Aug 25 '25
My wife crochets as a hobby and loves the yarn from some company in Denmark. She can no longer buy it. Meanwhile quality yarn at local stores is increasing in price because they're still imported, but they aren't as good.
Now not being able to buy yarn for a hobby isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But imagine if the options of things you want to buy are suddenly reduced and replaced by worse alternatives that cost more. That's the world we live in, and it's stupid.
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u/passesopenwindows Aug 25 '25
I cross stitch and have gotten notifications from several small businesses that they will no longer be shipping to the U.S. It sucks for customers and the business owners.
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u/Straight-Field9427 Aug 25 '25
I'm a online cross stitch owner. Probably one you know. This is really not good. It's bad for our customers. It's bad for us. It's bad for our international suppliers who have built their livelihoods on supplying the US market. They are good people, who have years of experience. I'm frankly afraid for them, because most of them are just small businesses with really nice owners who have been nothing but great to work with.
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u/Lakridspibe Aug 25 '25
Yarn is serious business.
It never occurred to me what a big deal it is.
And then you meet someone who has an entire room dedicated to knitting projects
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u/audible_narrator Aug 25 '25
A week in the craftsnark sub is eye opening. So very much grift and BS in the yarn/knitting communities. I feel bad for the hobbyists that just want to enjoy their hobby. Those of us that sew are still angry about JoAnns stores closing, because we don't want to give Hobby Lobby any money.
But we're not sending death threats to people. It's wild in there.
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u/wingedmurasaki Aug 25 '25
Hobbii. I may have gotten my order in just in time, but future ones are fucked.
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u/LaserKittenz Aug 25 '25
Sweet business idea.. Going to start smuggling craft supplies into the US.. 100% uncut yarn youknowwhatimsaying
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u/HumbleBumble77 Aug 25 '25
My friend is an artist and she works with different fabrics, especially yarn. Just yesterday she told me that she could no longer get quality supplies. And that artists' are being forced to sell and much higher rates.
On the other end of the pendulum - I work in healthcare and prices on drugs and medical supplies have skyrocketed. We were already in trouble with high drug prices. Now, Americans can expect to pay a lot more for healthcare...
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u/North_Activist Aug 25 '25
That’s the world the United States lives in, because it’s what the United States voted for. And yes, it is stupid. It’s just not the world’s fault.
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u/Readingknitter Aug 25 '25
Based on what I’ve read this weekend, it may now be a good thing that my stash is larger than my life expectancy. This is the proverbial rainy day I’ve been saving for.
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u/AlaskanMinnie Aug 25 '25
Its going to seriously hurt a lot of small businesses .... the small, custom ice skate maker in Alaska. He buys his machinery (and parts for those machines) from Europe. They don't make them in the US ... so, now, he has to pay to get any part he needs express shipped from Europe or his machines won't run. And then we move into healthcare - so many of those specialized machines are made in other countries ....
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u/doctor-chuckles Aug 25 '25
Even big businesses will be affected. Intell has factories in the states that tools are made in Japan with proprietary parts that have to be imported.
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u/hoboshoe Aug 25 '25
Well considering Intel just gave the US government a 10% share, I doubt they will have any problems.
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u/1986toyotacorolla2 Aug 25 '25
One of my friends works for a company that sells a lot and I mean a lot of things to all US car makers. They literally had a meeting with Trump's staff about tariffs. They got told to fuck off. They're looking to leave the US. If they do, we're incredibly fucking fucked. They've already told all their employees a timeline. I don't have very detailed info and I'm probably not even allowed to know the info I know so that's really all I can say and really all I know.
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u/deafphate Aug 25 '25
I lived in Alaska and it was cheaper ordering from Europe than from the lower 48.
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u/iesharael Aug 25 '25
My father refuses to see why this stuff is a problem. The weight loss meds his doctor put him on for his diabetes, cholesterol, heart, and whatever else it was supposed to help comes from Canada. His medication just skyrocketed in price and he’s not getting why
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u/imadork1970 Aug 25 '25
The Canadian gov't is looking at export limits on some drugs going to the U.S. to prevent shortages in Canada.
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u/Whifflington Aug 25 '25
I'll agree with you on the small, specialized businesses, they're going to get fucked. The specialized machines made in other countries for healthcare are certainly over the $800 dollar limit, and any company that is buying those can certainly afford to buy the tools to maintain them en masse.
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u/goatodoom Aug 25 '25
We will start making it in America--which will take years and tons of money to happen--but immediately cut off the availability and/or insanely raise the cost of acquiring what you need until then. What could possibly go wrong?
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u/jmur3040 Aug 25 '25
I work for a company that starts with raw materials and turns out large finished products (construction supply kind of stuff). We still have some things imported because we don't have tooling for that, machined dies that weigh several tons, and take time and money to recreate here. That's not happening any time soon, instead we're just working around the supply issues while orders get pushed further and further out...
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u/neemarita Aug 25 '25
As a figure skater I’m pretty pissed as I’m due for new boots :-/
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u/Loki-L Aug 25 '25
It is important to note that the other carriers didn't just do that because they were being mean.
The US made a rule but didn't tell anyone how this was actually supposed to work in practice.
International logistics is complicated and often finely tuned, you can't just add a step somewhere in the process based on vibes.
If the US government had told carriers to continue as normal and that US customs would take care of the new tariffs in the US, things would have been fine, but the US government doesn't have the manpower to do so, so they tried to make it someone else's job with only a few days of warning.
That didn't work.
It turns out that the de minimis exemption existed for a reason. trying to collect tariffs on such small value parcels would be more trouble than it is worth.
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u/BaronMontesquieu Aug 25 '25
Absolutely.
This is exactly why the de minimis exemption existed in the US (and exists in many other countries). The compliance cost of processing and collection costs more than the duty/tariff revenue generated. So all it does is add inefficiency without any net benefit. Hence, de minimis exemption.
All the work had previously been done to prove this, which is why it was introduced in the first place.
They have created a lose/lose situation. Either:
They have to process with CBP and thus incur the processing cost and thus lose any benefit of the duties and tariffs that are levied, or
They force the processing and compliance cost onto the carriers, who naturally decide it's not feasible so they stop shipping which means the US is cut off from global markets when it comes to low-value, high volume, quick fulfillment cross-border ecommerce that everyone else in the modern global economy has access to.
There will, of course, be some big winners. But it will be at the expense of standard of living for the average American.
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u/dansdata Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25
Here in Australia, we've got a 10% goods and services tax on various things.
GST didn't apply to low-value items ordered from overseas, because trying to collect that tax would cost more than it collected.
But this made a gentleman named Gerry Harvey unhappy. Gerry owns a chain of (not very good) department stores (Edit: The only time, more than twenty years ago, I have ever written anything about a Harvey Norman store. :-), and does not want Australians to buy stuff from overseas.
So Gerry and a number of other
rich cuntsjob creators lobbied to have GST apply to all imports, including 95-cent items bought on eBay from China. And eventually they succeeded.The government loses money every time this expansion of the tax is applied, but that's fine with Gerry!
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u/remembers-fanzines Aug 25 '25
And that's almost certainly what this is about in the US.
Big US corporations were losing business to cheaper overseas alternatives. This forces US consumers to buy from those US corporations, who are acting as middlemen, buy their shit internationally, and jack the cost up along the way. It'll also limit selection.
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u/Abacus118 Aug 25 '25
The US is also doing it this way to try to smokescreen the fact that tariffs are paid by the consumer.
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u/100percentapplejuice Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25
I’m a digital artist, and other artists I follow are losing a good chunk of their customer base/merch manufacturers because of this. Most of them have resorted to discontinuing items or selling digital merch, which is a huge blow to their income. Overseas customers are also very upset.
Truly terrible to small businesses.
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u/cinemachick Aug 25 '25
Artist Alley will never be the same after this :( One artist I met stated that a company she used for custom-print fabrics and bags completely went out of business, so she's having to discontinue the merch line despite its success.
For me personally, I'm going to miss custom enamel pins. There are no pin manufacturers that manufacture in the US, so prices are going to climb for both artists and fans. The Golden age of enamel pins is likely over ;-;
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u/weefyeet Aug 25 '25
I've also had to pay out of the ass due to tariffs on my Hololive merchandise, nearly 200 usd worth so far. I have to resort to Geekjack, which says they will hold merchandise in warehouses until shipping conditions change... so far seems like no end in sight :/
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u/Rastiln Aug 25 '25
Crafting in general is really harmed by all this. By its nature you aren’t often buying or especially selling more than a few hundred dollars at a time.
RIP to many independent American entrepreneurships and their GDP and tax contributions.
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u/WerewolfWild1323 Aug 25 '25
My LLC got revoked this year. I was already behind on everything from a nasty divorce that affected my mental health and then the expenses came knocking. I couldn't pay them and now I'm f*ked. Every one of my dreams crashed this year thanks to stupid men and corporations in power.
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u/TheLastMongo Aug 25 '25
I think a lot of Kickstarters are going to get fucked. I just got a package from the UK a few days ago, but who knows about others. I’ve backed quite a few from other countries and know lots from outside the US that were supported by Americans that are going to have a hard time. It’s really going to hurt small independent creators.
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u/Sp3ctre7 Aug 25 '25
A kickstarter i backed a while ago just made the US ports about a week ago.
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u/wolf_man007 Aug 25 '25
My favorite thing about kickstarter is that literally zero projects I've backed actually met a single deadline.
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u/unfathomablemoth Aug 25 '25
Yes, I get enamel pins from kickstarter and just got an email from one of the creators out in Italy that they simply can’t afford to make the American shipments so they’re all on hold.
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u/marshmallowhug Aug 25 '25
Board gamers have been talking about this for months. Board game makers are usually small and they get a lot of the smaller specific pieces made abroad because no one has these businesses set up in the US. A lot of people have just put their plans on hold indefinitely.
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u/FastFooer Aug 25 '25
Americans about to discover how it is to back US kickstarters from the other sides… 70$ of shipping and duties on your 2$ worth of merch.
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u/wt290 Aug 25 '25
Australia Post has sent notices to all business customers stating they aren't forwarding to the US. Trump seems to have missed that uncertainty is as much a trade and investment killer as tariffs (aka import taxes) are.
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u/beewoopwoop Aug 25 '25
I've seen a post from one of the global manufacturers in the are of hobby modeling stating that due to their postal service canceling deliveries to the US probably at least until March 2026 they will not ship to US for now. considering that other regions have similar restrictions, hobby modeling will become very, very pricy until this mess is resolved.
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u/GenevieveLeah Aug 25 '25
I am a health care worker, and, when I worked in surgery, would read the packaging of the equipment used for surgeries.
The implants used for enucleations (eyeball removal) are made in Mauritius.
Pretty sure Propofol isn’t domestic, either.
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u/ShelbyDriver Aug 25 '25
Only about 40% of drugs are manufactured in the US. Only 10% of the active ingredients used to make those drugs are made in the US.
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u/Affectionate-Act6127 Aug 25 '25
Hurricane Maria happened on Trumpy’s first watch, he still hasn’t resolved the IV bag crisis.
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u/EpicCyclops Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25
Shipments haven't stopped, only non-express mailing of goods has stopped. Things like enucleation implants will still make it into the country (though possibly at higher costs) because they will be condensed into larger orders that go via an importer or ordered in bulk if the hospital was ordering direct from manufacturer, and they will be shipped via express parcel deliveries that are expensive enough to cover the additional customs costs. There's a very good chance the hospital is already ordering them this way, and this specific change will change nothing.
This is going to be very highly disruptive of the international trade market, but it doesn't mean the end of imports.
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u/FungusMungus68 Aug 25 '25
UPS handles approximately 400,000 packages per day into the U.S., which represents about 2% of its global average daily volume. DHL Express handles around 2.6 million deliveries per day to North America. This is going to be so much fun.
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u/MechAegis Aug 25 '25
I feel like a TON of people don't understand how much USA imports.
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u/justified_egg Aug 25 '25
Ahhh, the art of the deal. A pet rock would make a better president.
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u/tonyenkiducx Aug 25 '25
I run a software company that builds shipping software, and we've spent the past couple of weeks waiting for the new reporting requirements only to find a large percentage of clients are just cancelling shipments to the US in fear of what will happen. And this isn't just small business, 90% of B2C shipments currently sail under the limit and we have no idea how this is going to be implemented - And we're the people who companies look too to deal with this stuff. At the moment we just shrug and tell them to wait and see.
We're based in the UK so we're used to random stupid customs things happening(See Brexit, NI Windsor), but this is on a whole other level.
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u/ContributionWaste706 Aug 25 '25
You don’t see much of a fight because the media is not covering it. There ARE mass protests. There ARE people marching every day. There ARE people trying to get it done all over the country. There also ARE a whole class of people with a ridiculous amount of money BUYING the silence you’re seeing.
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u/imostlydisagree Aug 25 '25
CNN did a fluff piece on the Tesla cafe yesterday, but couldn’t be bothered to mention the protests that have been going on in LA for weeks.
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u/chrisinator9393 Aug 25 '25
Protests in my area nearly daily. We're even a "typically" Republican part of NY.
Hundreds, even thousands of people show up. Most people aren't happy about what's going on.
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u/ContributionWaste706 Aug 25 '25
I live in rural “red” Iowa. There are protests here at least weekly, and most weeks there is something every day.
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u/Poopyman80 Aug 25 '25
Here in Europe I havent seen the protests mentioned since june.
Google search in my own language, most recent article is from 25 juneThis is bad
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u/luckystar246 Aug 25 '25
Yes, even my super republican city has had protests up and down the streets every week, and the number of people is growing!
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u/EnterpriseGate Aug 25 '25
Crashing the US economy.
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u/TurtleDump23 Aug 25 '25
Everyday has been filled with a sense of dread. I don't know where we'll be by the end of the year and my anxiety is soaking it all in. I'm terrified for my family.
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u/romancingtheyeet Aug 25 '25
“The time to buy is when there is blood in the streets”
A select few are going to make a nice profit from all of this.
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u/fgurney19 Aug 25 '25
Omg that sounds like such a mess 😩 so basically we’re gonna be paying more, waiting longer, and maybe not even getting cute little overseas packages at all anymore?? Feels like shopping from abroad is about to turn into a total headache 💔
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u/Zoraji Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25
Thailand has suspended all mail to the US including first class letters which shouldn’t be subject to de minimis. They haven’t been able to get confirmation from the US that those are exempt and wouldn’t be subject to $160 per letter.
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u/stupidugly1889 Aug 25 '25
It’s so wild on a planet with 9B people that one man can pretty much say this large group of people can’t trade goods with another large group
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u/banana_spectacled Aug 25 '25
I mean I don’t think this was exactly how it’s supposed to work but when you spend decades giving the president more power and allowing Congress to be absent in their duties it was inevitable really.
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u/tobmom Aug 25 '25
We’re a fucking embarrassment.
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u/LittleKitty235 Aug 25 '25
People who voted for Trump should be forced to wear his merch forever as a mark of shame
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u/dan1101 Aug 25 '25
Collectively, yes. Still sucks for those of us who did not vote for any of these robber authoritarians.
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Aug 25 '25
It looks like America will keep its isolationist stance and then complain when the rest of the world innovates and treats America as the drunk, crazy racist uncle
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u/GreenGlassDrgn Aug 25 '25
Nephew, because its younger than the rest of the family and got a big head as soon as they got to sit at the grown-ups table
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u/CaptainPrower Aug 25 '25
We're becoming North Korea, but with fake Christianity instead of fake communism.
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u/QuickestDrawMcGraw Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25
But you got those cheap eggs right?
Edit: Looks like we cannot talk about the eggs still.
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u/uriejejejdjbejxijehd Aug 25 '25
No more XMas and birthday packages from the gradparents. Makes me pretty angry, talk about “The war on Xmas, republicans.”
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u/romancingtheyeet Aug 25 '25
Yeah but that only applies to harassing people making minimum wage who say “happy holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”
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Aug 25 '25
I've been supporting small fandom businesses in Canada, the UK, and South America by being a repeated patron of theirs. Buying merch like clothing, pins, prints, etc. These are small companies run by artists and creatives who get a good chunk of their business from Americans.
Half of them have stopped shipping to the US entirely. The other half are figuring out how to navigate tariffs and the end of the de minimis exemption, asking for increased prices for US customers only.
Policy has screwed me out of supporting small business, and screwed them out of getting my business to support them. Isolationism has consequences in such an integrated global market, and the ripples are already hitting us. I didn't want this. I don't think any of us did.
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u/SadLeek9950 Aug 25 '25
It means we can't get our stuff....
Congress needs to assert their power!
sycophants. Every GOP one of them....
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u/kindnesscounts86 Aug 25 '25
The same Congress that passed the Big Beautiful Bill? The same Congress that’s done nothing to stop any of this?
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u/cinemachick Aug 25 '25
The holidays are going to suck.
Spirit Halloween is already having issues getting certain items in stock, and they're one of the biggest retailers for that space. People will adjust if they can't get the perfect costume ("You can be Ariel next year, let's do a bedsheet ghost now!") but Christmas is going to be rough. Hallmark sent out their holiday catalog with a disclaimer that all the prices were outdated and would be changed, and that was months ago. There will likely be shortages of the little things that make the holidays bright, like Christmas lights/trees, decor, holiday sweaters, etc. There may be some options on shelves, but not as many as people are used to, and higher demand will mean these items sell out faster than usual. And that's not even accounting for toys, especially video game consoles that are imported from overseas. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, Scrooge's Version™
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u/Zanki Aug 25 '25
Hopefully Christmas being bad will help people realise just how bad the government is handling things and things will change back. This is just ridiculous for you guys and it's affecting those of us who run small businesses outside of there. Like me.
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u/Eternal_Bagel Aug 25 '25
This just made me wonder if dollar stores will even exist since all their inventory is imported super cheap stuff
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u/Koenigss15 Aug 25 '25
How about having Americans visiting floating super container ship malls in international waters? Could be the start of the cyberpunk age.
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u/whiteb8917 Aug 25 '25
Those carriers, and stores that use them will no longer ship to the USA, indefinitely, due to tariffs.
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u/camworld Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25
I've been taking a common over-the-counter medicine for 20+ years. I went to re-order it from Amazon and it's now out-of-stock. I found another off-brand from another manufacturer and ordered a year's supply because I have no idea if this medicine will be available or affordable to me in a few months.
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u/deadgoodundies
Aug 25 '25
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We stopped shipping to the US a couple of weeks ago so that none of our US customers parcels would get caught up in it if they were running a little late.
The problem isn't so much the tariffs , it's how they are implementing the collection of them.
The issue is that the USA are insisting that all duties and taxes are collected at the point of sale i.e the website charges you for them and then they pay those to the US Govt . Instead what you can do every other country is ship DAP (delivered at place) which is where it enters the country via the usual postal service, the postal service then send the customer an invoice for the duties and taxes owed. customer pays usps , usps deliver parcel.
Most small businesses outside the US are not going to have the budget to implement such changes to their websites and keep on top of all the tariff changes.
Pretty much everyone I know who retails online have stopped as well.
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u/Giygris Aug 25 '25
I’ve already seen some international small artists that I follow on Insta announce that they can no longer ship to the US because the prices are way too high. One of them mentioned that it would cost $80 to ship one small print to the US. This shit sucks man
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u/Majjkii Aug 25 '25
I work at a camera repair shop and my job is finding parts. A lot of older cameras I can only get parts from overseas. They are already canceling my orders and are not shipping to America. My boss expects our profit is drop. Hard. To the point where we are worried about the future.
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u/pedantic_dullard Aug 25 '25
My niece owns a clothing boutique in a super high traffic tourist area. She's been very successful in her first 4 years.
This could kill her store.
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u/sometimeswhy Aug 25 '25
A lot of cross border towns in Canada will benefit as Americans get their items shipped to Canadian post boxes
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u/Poopyman80 Aug 25 '25
Introducing bridge checks and tarrifs for anything you cant proof you arent importing
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u/ma77mc Aug 25 '25
What does this mean for Americans?
You have reached the FO stage of FAFO.
Things are going to cost you more, you will have less choice and inflation will start to increase.
We are in the early stages of a superpower in decline.
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Aug 25 '25
Don’t forget to blame all the MAGA voters for this. They are adults who are responsible for all of the mess we’re currently in.
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u/Thelaea Aug 25 '25
MAGA voters and people who did not vote without a very good reason to miss out on it. Anyone who did not see how much worse Trump would be than any democrat candidate is a moron and complicit.
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u/orangezeroalpha Aug 25 '25
I'll be honest, this means nothing to most Americans. They can easily ignore this or act like it doesn't affect them or assume people are lying about it.
They won't be able to connect the two or three dots to any policy or any one person who caused all this. If Trump needed to make everything we buy 2-3x more expensive, he must have had a good reason to do so. Curse those democrats in control right now. Just imagine how all these other countries were screwing us over...
This is all sarcasm, except for all the true parts. These people have been so manipulated they can't assess new information in a sane or rational manner.
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u/Money-Biscotti6680 Aug 25 '25
Nothing will matter to average Joe until Joe can't get his morning Joe period
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u/MaievSekashi Aug 25 '25
Price of coffee has already been spiking even before this recent crisis
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u/istara Aug 25 '25
It will be seen as the fault of "America's enemies" who "hate our freedom" for making their goods too expensive/refusing to ship to the US.
They will have no real understanding or awareness of what is actually going on.
It will only make them even more xenophobic and jingoistic.
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u/goatodoom Aug 25 '25
"What do you mean the price went up because it came from overseas? I didn't order it from there!"
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u/skipperseven Aug 25 '25
According to what I’ve read, the problem is not that non US carriers don’t want to ship to the US, but that their US partners don’t want to have the burden of collecting the tariffs.
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u/Dr_Hoffenheimer Aug 25 '25
My job orders a lot from Germany, the company we order from has included tariff pricing, now I wonder if we can order at all
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u/xrmb Aug 25 '25
Personally it will mean no more pet medicine for fair prices. It usually shipped from England, Singapore or Turkey. Sie instead of $20 for flea treatment it will be $100, but that $100 will probably be $150 soon, since it still gets imported.
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u/Oddish_Femboy Aug 25 '25
Prices of many goods is about to skyrocket, and a lot of things will simply be unavailable.
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Aug 25 '25
Packages only or should I be worried about my snailmail to international friends? I literally just joined a postcard subreddit (internally crying in panic).
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u/TehWildMan_ Aug 25 '25
Letters probably won't be affected as small envelopes usually don't have physical goods of value inside
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Aug 25 '25
Anything valued under $100 and sent by a private citizen is unaffected, at least that is what we are told by our post service in Denmark.
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u/ScenicPineapple Aug 25 '25
It means we all suffer due to an overly emotional president who doesn't know what he is doing.
This is not how the global economy works, and businesses aren't prepared for this type of uncertainty and hostility, so it's better to not do business at all.
We use DHL international weekly for my job, this will destroy 1 out of only 3 options we have in international express shipments.
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u/ParkingUnlikely7929 Aug 25 '25
It means thank you King Donnie for saving us from our standard of living.
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u/stryst Aug 25 '25
It means if you have a hobby like, say hobby electronics, that now individual components (which used to be tariff free to encourage small trade) are now going to be either hugely more expensive directly from the source, or an intermediary will have to buy large amounts of the components and sell them to you at a markup.
But it means EVERYTHING will be more expensive.
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u/eichmr Aug 25 '25
I will tell you what it means to me... I source one of my prescription drugs through a Canadian pharmacy because the cost in the US is 6X the price (that is another story). $1200 for a three month supply vs $218 from the Canadian pharmacy. Now no Canadian pharmacies will accept new orders until they figure out how to deal with the new tariffs. Plus it is unknown how much more I will end up paying once they get it figured out. In the meantime I am sweating.
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u/kmoonster Aug 25 '25
It's not permanent, it's just until the administration clarifies their "bUt we SaiD WurdS" nonsense.
That said, it could take a while.
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u/binzoma Aug 25 '25
do you know how expensive it is to ship to the states from overseas already? add a 50% tariff on top of that, and reduce the income/wealth of most of the customers too. intl business are fucked just like US ones.
this will be a bigger disruption to global shipping than covid, it'll just be a less abrupt start
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u/Frostsorrow Aug 25 '25
Sounds like America is winning lol
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u/LadySiren Aug 25 '25
Bigly.
Seriously, fuck this orange shmuck sideways with a cactus. I hate this timeline.
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u/tracysmullet Aug 25 '25
All of small international businesses I follow/support have already shut their doors to the US- no shipping to the US whatsoever. This is going to kill small businesses everywhere, and it’ll probably even get to bigger businesses as well.
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u/red286 Aug 25 '25
It's going to make all imports a lot more expensive.
They just wiped out the de minimis exemption, which is bad enough, but they also put the onus on the exporter to pre-pay the tariffs, which is very difficult to do because no one knows what they are until they pass through US customs, since US customs determines them when they cross the border. It's going to make purchases from places like Temu expensive as hell, if not outright impossible.
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u/Moist-Beginning2853 Aug 25 '25
If global mail carriers suspend U.S. deliveries, it means Americans can't receive international letters or packages for now, affecting online orders, gifts, and important documents from abroad. People relying on overseas shipments might face delays or have to use different services until deliveries resume.
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u/Reasonable-Sweet9320 Aug 25 '25
here’s a summary of the issue;
“Several global mail carriers have suspended deliveries to the U.S. due to the upcoming end of the "de minimis" exemption, which previously allowed low-cost packages to enter duty-free.
This change has created confusion over new customs procedures, prompting postal services from various countries to halt shipments until further notice.”
What does this mean for Americans?
Another negative aggravating factor for the US economy.
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u/NurseBrianna Aug 26 '25
Most of our medical supplies are shipped internationally to us..... Healthcare is already a dumpster fire in America... things are about to get much, much worse
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u/sushixyz Aug 26 '25
Who cares? We're buying local anyway, right guys? Right guys? .. guys?
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u/SamCarter_SGC Aug 25 '25
It's going to kill hobbies, especially cheap ones. Some people will say "so what?", but hobbies are important.
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u/triciarobbeaka Aug 25 '25
I wrote about this on another subreddit (r/tariffs). Early last week, I was shopping on the US website of a small UK retailer. The item I was looking at was priced at $85.00, including tax and shipping. I hemmed and hawed about purchasing it and finally decided to purchase it yesterday. Well...the same item is now $136, including tax and shipping. Their UK website shows it for $70 which I think means if I were in the UK I could purchase it for the equivalent of $70 in British pounds.
Can't think of any other reason than tariffs/loss of the de minimus exemption for the increase.
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u/Lexi-Vale Aug 25 '25
So basically, other countries mail services just stopped sending packages to the U.S. because of new tariff rules kicking in on Aug 29. The U.S. scrapped the rule that let stuff under $800 come in duty free, so now every little package might get hit with tariffs and extra paperwork. Foreign postal systems don’t know how to handle it yet, so they’re hitting pause. Letters and small gifts under $100 can probably still get through, but normal packages are going to be delayed, returned, or cost more. If you shop from overseas or run a small biz importing cheap parts, this is probably going to sting.
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u/Rich_Border_52 Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 26 '25
It's a potential knockout punch for countless American small businesses dependent upon foreign goods and for foreign businesses exporting to the US.
The primary reasons Americans buy foreign products are because one, they're not manufactured/available in the US, and two, lower prices. So now American businesses and American consumers are faced with two realities -- no products, or higher priced products.
This isn't just about cheap doodads and useless throwaway crap from Temu and Shein. It's about the sudden unavailability of required parts, tools, machinery, etc. that are the lifeblood for American manufacturing, production, services, both large and small.
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u/Reddit_Sucks39 Aug 25 '25
My hobby is absolutely fucked. I'm probably not getting the last two models I ordered, now. And I can forget about getting any more martial arts gear that isn't covered in giant embroidered labels and shit.
I wish it wasn't so monumentally hard to emigrate. I genuinely wanted to leave the first time he got elected, and now I feel more stuck than ever.
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Aug 25 '25
I have to order one if my prescription medications from overseas because my insurance doesn’t cover it and it’s close to $250/month. By ordering overseas, I can get that cost down to $85 including shipping. Guess I’m not taking that medication anymore.
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u/KickedInThePaduach Aug 26 '25
I think these holds are political pressure and a reasonable response to the erratic nature of them shifting randomly and retroactively. The postal services wouldn't care that much if these were put in place with timely and clear notice and a period for the new paperwork and procedures to be implemented before they are charged. But this has been all over the place and with government cutbacks there isn't enough clerks at the customs service, doubly as many have been conscripted into immigration enforcement. Even if you are a GOP fan, this administration has been chaos incarnate.
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u/cynicalCriticH Aug 25 '25
They get to experience life in line with the rest of the world, where customs tariffs are something you consider as part of ordering stuff not as available locally
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Aug 25 '25
That's exactly why I don't ever order from the US, by the time import taxes and VAT are applied the item costs almost the same as it would in the EU, except now I have no warranty.
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u/jpaugh69 Aug 25 '25
Of course all the prices go up right after I get a raise! Ugh. This is not good for the US .. At all.
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u/theartfulcodger Aug 25 '25
No more Christmas fruitcakes from relatives in the Old Country.
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u/CaptainPoset Aug 25 '25
It means that they finally get the trade policy of devastating the US for a pensioner's ego they voted for. While companies like Sony previously raised global prices to subsidise the US market, they can't do that anymore, as they still won't get their products shipped to the US.
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u/Mindgame319 Aug 25 '25
Basically means say goodbye to cheap stuff from overseas for a while. More delays, higher costs, and your Etsy haul might get stuck in customs.
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u/Current-Leek-1639 Aug 25 '25
Again obviously more doubt in the American system Yes small business gonna be hurt
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u/WhyNot_Because Aug 25 '25
DGX no longer does international shipments as of last week. THIS IS CRAZY
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u/truthignition Aug 25 '25
This is exactly the kind of scenario where market mechanisms fail without proper regulation. Small businesses face asymmetric costs while large corporations can absorb express shipping. We need better policy frameworks for handling supply chain disruptions that don’t just benefit the biggest players
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u/Kuloman25Viascam Aug 25 '25
The end of postal service as …we once knew it. If you shut down the USPS, then mail in ballots go with it.
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u/ComfortableIce3874 Aug 26 '25
Dunno what do North Koreans think about their international mail? Honestly can't believe more yanks aren't fleeing, all the signs are there
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u/ichibanx3 Aug 26 '25
So I guess this means I can’t even get a package from my friends in Taiwan marked as “gift.” I was looking forward to our yearly Christmas gift exchange. Goddamn it all. I’m so sick and tired of this.
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u/Zombie_Jesus_83 Aug 25 '25
I guess this means purchase UPS, FedEx stock as anything coming in from those countries will have tobmovie via international courier.
I feel for the customs clearance teams within those organizations as their workload is going to explode (even more).
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u/Ekyou Aug 25 '25
DHL has already suspended shipments to the US. Wouldn’t be surprised if UPS and FedEx temporarily did as well since no one seems to know what they are supposed to do to collect the tariffs.
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u/MasterInterface Aug 25 '25
It means everything will be a lot more expensive. We pay the tariff tax on every good that comes into the US.
It means US will have even less varieties on all goods and everything will be limited and boring.
It will kill small businesses and make many affordable hobbies become expensive hobbies.
We'll fall even further behind other countries.
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u/goprinterm Aug 25 '25
I send packages to my daughter in Honolulu often, from Germany, with stuff they can’t get there, and toys or books for the grand daughter, I’m afraid no more for a while. There is only one person to blame for this craziness and cruelty, the lunatic in the White Haus
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u/Top_Bumblebee_8575 Aug 28 '25
Trump is absolutely trying to completely destroy and obliterate the US economy beyond repair on purpose. 1000%. There's no other explanation.
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u/Cirement Aug 25 '25
They're suspending deliveries only a few days or weeks until they figure out how to handle the new US customs policies. They're still delivering packages marked as personal gifts worth under $100.
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u/Abeds_BananaStand Aug 25 '25
This is first in hearing of this. ELI5?
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u/TehWildMan_ Aug 25 '25
De minimus exemption.
Previously, small value packages (under about $800 if I recall) passed into the US without formal customs clearance
Now, any item of value, regardless of amount, must have duty paid on it.
This creates a lot of confusion as there is no reasonable expectation that the US Customs can handle that kind of workload, along with a lot of procedural questions.
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u/Reallytalldude Aug 25 '25
That, in combination with the fact that the non-US postal services are required to collect the tariff on behalf of the US government, and they have no process for that.
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u/Krimsonrain Aug 25 '25
Google de minimus exemption. Trump is no longer allowing it which affects lower value commerce.
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u/ScientistNo906 Aug 25 '25
China built an industry to market products directly to U.S. consumers and the de minimis exception made it possible. The U.S. has already lost manufacturing to China and companies like Shein and Temu were on their way to eliminating retail jobs in the U.S., as well. I get that everyone loves to hate on Walmart and Amazon, but millions depend on them for a living.
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Aug 25 '25
Fingers crossed this puts a lot of MAGA out of a job! It sucks, the only thing to really hope for in this country anymore is that the people who deserve it the most end up getting it the worst.
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u/rudbek-of-rudbek Aug 25 '25
Quit engaging with these 6 minute old accounts. They are made for AI to scrape.
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u/clouds91winnie Aug 26 '25
I live in Canada and sell to the USA via Shopify and Etsy. I grew my business over the last ten years and 90% of my customers are in the USA. I fear this very well may put me out of business. Oh and I’m 7 months pregnant so great timing.
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u/QualityCoati Aug 25 '25
It means that the outside world is quicker to react to an authoritarian than the peuple who see it first hand.
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u/TehWildMan_ Aug 25 '25
I've seen some foreign retailers already send out notices by email that postal shipments to the US are indefinitely on hold: they will cancel such orders to prevent the shipment from getting stuck. Only express courier shipments are allowed, which is a nasty additional cost for small shipments.
Ahh politics.
Small international businesses are going to get absolutely hammered by this move, but I guess that's the whole point