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When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

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Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#21

Post by Aurornis »

gishh wrote: post #2

[flagged]

The tariffs and enforcement policies have been changing rapidly with little notice.

This has been terrible for anyone who has to deal with slow shipments from other countries. When things were changing rapidly you could place an order and by the time it arrive the tariff could be something entirely different.

It was awful. I know a lot of people who carefully calculated expected tariffs on a purchase and then got smacked with a much larger number later when it arrived.

There has also been chaos in trying to remediate tariff mistakes. If you got charged the wrong amount, good luck contacting anyone to get it fixed. They’re so slammed with communications and complaints that it’s just not happening.

So this snide dismissiveness is just wrong.

Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#22

Post by dependency_2x »

IncandescentGas wrote: post #19

I just got an invoice from ups to pay a $16 brokerage fee to jpmorgan for collecting a $0.60 tariff on a sticker included in a box with a custom keyboard shipped from Taiwan. Seems like wall street is making out better than the US on this arrangement

Please blog about this!

Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#23

Post by Gibbon1 »

varispeed wrote: post #12
JSR_FDED wrote: post #6

Tariffs are great. They protect the struggling domestic IT industry and gives it time to ramp up its production of vintage computer parts.

I know one US business that used to make niche electronic product. Most components they used were from China. Got hit by the tariffs that wiped all the operating profit. Guy also had to sell his home and is now couchsurfing. Business is unlikely going to recover. Of course he considered making chips and other components in the US, but he was few billions short to start the fab.

Reminds me of a comment I think by Nancy Teeters the first female Federal Reserve board member. She said the other board members thought they could savage the US manufacturing industry to kill wage inflation and break the unions and it would come right back once they stopped. And it didn't.

Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#24

Post by xxs »

dullcrisp wrote: post #20
robrain wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please engage sarcasm-awareness mode.

Neither humans nor LLMs are currently equipped with separate sarcasm-awareness modes so telling someone to engage theirs can only be…ohh

that's so beyond obviously a sarcastic remark. In that regard I'd consider a vast majority of the humans totally capable of detecting dead pan sarcasm both in spoken and written speech.

Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#26

Post by celeritascelery »

I had this happen to me on an order from Sweden. The order was about $450 + $50 shipping. I used an online tariff calculator and it said it should be 15%. So I was expecting ~$70. A few days before it is supposed to arrive UPS sends me a $242 bill for “tariffs, customs, and brokerage fees”. That basically made it 50% more expensive, but it was either pay it or loose the item. A month later they sent me an invoice that claimed the item cost $850. No idea how that happened. I am too scared to order anything from the EU anymore.

Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#27

Post by renewiltord »

Aurornis wrote: post #21
gishh wrote: post #2

[flagged]

The tariffs and enforcement policies have been changing rapidly with little notice. This has been terrible for anyone who has to deal with slow shipments from other countries. When things were changing rapidly you could place an order and by the time it arrive the tariff could be something entirely different. It was awful. I know a lot of people who carefully calculated expected tariffs on a purchase and then got sma…

One company I contracted with had a few TEUs that they just decided they didn't want to import (some branded boxes, double-walled bottles) after they were in flight. The lead time was a few months on what they wanted and after they'd ordered but before the containers arrived the tariffs went into place.

I haven't talked to them in months, but I wonder what happens there. Do you just let the product sit in a shipyard somewhere? Surely you have to pay for storage like the guy in the OP. But then what? What if you just don't pay it at all? They were definitely the kind of people to just be like "fuck it, your cargo containers now". What I learned from them was that very often if you don't like what someone is charging you, you can just not pay them anything and let them keep whatever of yours they have (which they can't really do anything with).

I keep thinking that some place has to have a lien against the company in some way, but in practice they just take whatever they've got and leave. I'd never have the balls to try, myself.

Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#28

Post by nandomrumber »

xxs wrote: post #24
dullcrisp wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neither humans nor LLMs are currently equipped with separate sarcasm-awareness modes so telling someone to engage theirs can only be…ohh

that's so beyond obviously a sarcastic remark. In that regard I'd consider a vast majority of the humans totally capable of detecting dead pan sarcasm both in spoken and written speech.

Isn’t there a well known internet adage that speaks to this?

Do you remember what it is?

Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#29

Post by tho1342834y9234 »

JSR_FDED wrote: post #6

Tariffs are great. They protect the struggling domestic IT industry and gives it time to ramp up its production of vintage computer parts.

Quite funny to see the US import the utterly disastrous "Import Substitution" model that destroyed India's fledgling industrial base that was left-over after the British left.

Re: When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

#30

Post by femiagbabiaka »

delichon wrote: post #25

If SCOTUS finds the tariffs unconstitutional in Learning Resources v. Trump, they should order refunds.

I would be surprised if the money was being held in escrow and could be refunded. Actually the Trump admin is using this as an argument to the SC as to why making the tariffs unconstitutional is a bad idea.
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