iStockphoto
If you ordered something from outside of the country and are wondering why it is taking so long to be delivered, there is a reason for that. A new report reveals that thousands of packages that have been shipped to the United States by UPS are stuck at hubs across the country because of tariff issues. As a result of this backlog, the company reports, they are now “disposing of” some of them.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Matthew Wasserbach, brokerage manager of Express Customs Clearance, told NBC News about the UPS backlog. “It’s totally unprecedented.”
The reason for this chaos is President Donald Trump ending the “de minimis” tariff exemption for packages valued at $800 or less. The exemption, which had been in place since the 1930s and allowed lower-value items to be free from incurring special tariffs or fees, came to an end on Aug. 29.
Now these items are being subjected to hundreds of different, country-specific rates and levies. These changes have made it much more costly and complex for packages shipped to the United States from another country to be delivered.
“Because of changes to U.S. import regulations, we are seeing many packages that are unable to clear customs due to missing or incomplete information about the shipment required for customs clearance,” UPS told NBC News in a statement.
In cases where UPS cannot obtain the necessary information to clear a package through customs, the company said it has two choices.
“First, the package can be returned to the original shipper at their expense,” UPS said. “Second, if the customer does not respond and the package cannot be cleared for delivery, disposing of the shipment is in compliance with U.S. customs regulations. We continue to work to bridge the gap of understanding tied to the new requirements and, as always, remain committed to serving our customers.”
When asked by NBC News what UPS meant when it said packages would be “disposed of,” they would not explain any further. One business, chocolate-maker The Organic House in Canada, shared their experience having their packages “disposed of” in a video on TikTok.
In another video, the company showed what the contents of one of the packages looked like after it was finally returned to them after six weeks. It wasn’t good.