Even tourists like me are afraid to visit america now. So much hatred
Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
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Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#52Even tourists like me are afraid to visit america now. So much hatred
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Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
There has long been a desire to privatize the USPS, so this also fits neatly into the narrative that the USPS should not be a public good.
This is affecting private carriers as well.
Friend ordered a widget from China. Needed for a project he was prototyping.
Widget $30
Shipping $60
Shipped via DHL which did have the mechanisms in place to declare contents and pay the tariffs, but not for free.
For people ordering tube socks off of AliBaba, the economics is entirely different and the result is not unexpected.
Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#54Even tourists like me are afraid to visit america now. So much hatred
My visa expired some years ago, and thanks to covid we switched to video conferencing. A blessing in disguise.
Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't worry, it also hits birthday cards from my cousins, Christmas presents from my siblings, care packages with those favorite candies and coffees that aren't sold in the US. My sibling can't send me hand-knit items or hand-me-down kids items, items truly of de minimis monetary value. It may be accomplishing what was intended -- but I don't think that people in the US (even those paying attention) understand what w…
Edit: Sorry I didn’t read the article fully, I had just woken up.
If all the systems were in place and working correctly then indeed there would be no effect, but the point of the article was that many countries have entirely suspended shipments because they have not got the relevant systems in place to handle the tariffs and regulations required.
Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
There has long been a desire to privatize the USPS, so this also fits neatly into the narrative that the USPS should not be a public good.
This is affecting private carriers as well.
There's no goal for the privatized USPS to actually be successful, only to destroy the public good. It's government, it works, so therefore it must be destroyed. This is really how Republicans think.
Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#57I suspect most of this is about the elimination of the de minimis exemption (which the article explains) rather than tariffs per se. A lot of countries previously had 10% tariffs and whether tariffs are 10% or 50% or 100%, that's just a number in a spreadsheet. You will have systems to collect and handle that regardless.
But de minimis elimination suddenly means collecting tariffs on something you previously never did. That's new.
I actually support eliminating de minimis. The rest of the tariffs nonsense we've been going through for 8 months is objetcively insane.
Another aspect to this is international agreements that make domestic delivery free for an international sender who just needs get parcels to a port. Such an agreement was made when deliveries were so one-sided.
So we had a situation where shipping between China and the US was cheap (by sea) and there were no charges for domestic delivery and no tariffs.
Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
From someone outside the US (Canada) and in a country that's been abused by its giant next-door neighbour -- longer than just the current, explicit abuse -- I kinda hope this recession is deep and hurts badly. We've already seen some huge, positive structural changes to our economy and a down-and-out, bleeding US will have nothing but positive effects for the rest of us. I'd have some sympathy but this is an entirely…
What a vile response. I hope you feel some of the pain that you wish to dish out. There are a lot of us in the US who don't want this bullshit and haven't wanted it. A lot.
Many of our current problems stem from awful people never suffering any consequences for their actions that actively made the US a worse place for other people.
Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#59That's what was supposed to happen, right?
Especially that underpriced postage advantage (the de minimis exemption) that so many were taking advantage when shipping small shipments from China (and others). Maybe maybe this means fewer items of dubious repute on Amazon. It was a stupid exception I'm glad they did away with it. I have no idea who in their bright mind saw reason to increase the exception to 800 from 200). Stupid. Suspension was talked about in A…
That's not the point under contention. Removing the de minimis exemption is a perfectly cromulent policy. It's not even particularly unpopular to remove it.
The problem is that the Trump Administration is plainly incompetent in handling these matters. There wouldn't be this shitshow of sudden haltings in postal services to the US if they'd done the normal thing of announcing the changes with an appropriate lead time for businesses to adjust, rather than suddenly implementing it alongside the constant ping-ponging between yes-tariffs and no-tariffs.
Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't worry, it also hits birthday cards from my cousins, Christmas presents from my siblings, care packages with those favorite candies and coffees that aren't sold in the US. My sibling can't send me hand-knit items or hand-me-down kids items, items truly of de minimis monetary value. It may be accomplishing what was intended -- but I don't think that people in the US (even those paying attention) understand what w…
Edit: Sorry I didn’t read the article fully, I had just woken up.
Operators suspended their services and now reject US-bound packages.