You can still ship stuff from China to the US via FedEx, UPS, or DHL. You just have to do all the standard customs clearance data entry and pay.[1]
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/business/china-us-usps-de...
Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong
301–310 of 610 posts
Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong
#302Earlier quoted context omitted.
>>The idea that China is a major security threat is basically brand new You're kidding right?
No. I guess it’s a matter of degree but my memory of the 90s, 00s and even early 2010s the middle east and North Korea both received far more attention from the press and politicians than China. China seemed to be on a trajectory towards a free market and less repressive government. I don’t feel like the current “cold war” esque situation set in until the late 2010s but maybe I’m wrong? What’s your take?
You are so very wrong.
Just one example around free market: China's private sector has lost ground as state sector has gained share among top corporations since 2021 https://www.piie.com/research/piie-charts/2024/chinas-privat...
Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong
#303This is going to utterly fuck so many R&D projects at my company. We actually do large-scale manufacturing of industrial valves in the USA. But a lot of our prototyping involves working with Chinese suppliers and getting small batches of samples / prototypes / revisions sent in packages on airplanes. I literally do not know how the electrical and firmware engineers will do their jobs now if we cannot receive packages…
Surely they can use DHL/UPS, right?
Should be minimal disruption; when someone in China wanted to send me a package, they used DHL anyway.
Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong
#304Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because there's nowhere in the US like Shenzhen, Guangdong or Hong Kong. Remember how Apple couldn't just pick up and move the production of iPhones to India or Vietnam? You need all the ancillary industries around the production to be there, along with being competitive and commoditized as well. When a supplier has something go wrong a line of manufacturing doesn't go down. You go down the street to the same guy sel…
> Remember how Apple couldn't just pick up and move the production of iPhones to India or Vietnam? You left out the part about dormitories full of modern-day slaves, complete with nets so they don't leap to their deaths. Generally this is frowned upon in the West. India and Vietnam wouldn't tolerate it either, despite being developing countries. Wasn't there a riot at Apple's India factory over work conditions or am…
There are nets on bridges and other places in the US, too.
Also I don't think the suicide rate of those workers you are referring to is higher than the general population. There are simply lots of workers. For example, Foxconn has more than 1 million employees so it is normal that there would be some level of suicide within such a large population.
Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong
#305Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Why has there never been serious Western alternatives to JLCPCB, PCBWay, JLCCNC etc.? Because the West has to actually follow environmental and safety regulations. As opposed to write them down on paper and wipe your ass with it when the West isn't looking. Evidence: I watched a tour video from one of these Chinese PCB houses and some of the workers were wearing surgical masks. Not for COVID mind you, for presiding…
Given how much the US wants to deregulate everything, perhaps it can become the Shenzhen of the West. And not in the good way.
*A handful of oligarchs and their useful idiots in the US.
Fixed that for you.
Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong
#306Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because there's nowhere in the US like Shenzhen, Guangdong or Hong Kong. Remember how Apple couldn't just pick up and move the production of iPhones to India or Vietnam? You need all the ancillary industries around the production to be there, along with being competitive and commoditized as well. When a supplier has something go wrong a line of manufacturing doesn't go down. You go down the street to the same guy sel…
> Remember how Apple couldn't just pick up and move the production of iPhones to India or Vietnam? You left out the part about dormitories full of modern-day slaves, complete with nets so they don't leap to their deaths. Generally this is frowned upon in the West. India and Vietnam wouldn't tolerate it either, despite being developing countries. Wasn't there a riot at Apple's India factory over work conditions or am…
> Generally this is frowned upon in the West. India and Vietnam wouldn't tolerate it either
Yes, "frowned upon" is the perfectly realistic way to describe it.
Dior was just caught using slave labor including illegal immigrants in Italy (so they can say "Made in Italy" on the label), all working round the clock shifts and sleeping locked in the makeshift factory, operating machines with safeties disabled so they're more productive, making 2700E handbags for 53E [0]. The court just called it "Unethical Supply Chain" but no criminal charges. Luxury brands are "put on notice".
> thousands of small foreign-owned manufacturers supply luxury brands with goods that can claim the prized “Made in Italy” label but are produced at “Made in China” prices.
If you thought now you can sleep well but still buy cheap (or even a 2700E handbag) because your product isn't made in China, think again. And this isn't just Italy, it's everywhere. And it isn't just iPhones or Dior handbags, it's almost every cheap thing you buy and some expensive ones too. Business owners are greedy and chase profits, and customers are cheap and don't care beyond their own needs and wants.
[0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2024/06/24/italian-...
Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong
#307This is going to utterly fuck so many R&D projects at my company. We actually do large-scale manufacturing of industrial valves in the USA. But a lot of our prototyping involves working with Chinese suppliers and getting small batches of samples / prototypes / revisions sent in packages on airplanes. I literally do not know how the electrical and firmware engineers will do their jobs now if we cannot receive packages…
Only if "utterly fucked" somehow means you can still pay a bit more to DHL and get packages even faster than USPS.
Your fast prototypes coming by air freight likely aren't routed through USPS at all unless it's the last leg of a consolidated shipment that's broken apart once it reaches the US. Those would be using some other carrier to get them from China to the US and then USPS only inside the US. USPS all the way from China is slow.
Paying ~$30 for express shipping through DHL (plus whatever the new tariffs end up being) will still get you those parts in 3-5 days to most major shipping hubs in the US, your suppliers will just need to start filing the export paperwork correctly.
These changes will likely have bigger impacts on cheap off the shelf parts from e-commerce places like Temu or AliExpress, who were previously taking advantage of both the de minimis rule and inequal international rates through USPS.
Your Chinese suppliers can still ship by any of the normal commercial express shipping carriers as long as they understand how to file export paperwork or have an agent who can do it for them. Previously this usually added 1-2 days to the transit time over shipping undeclared "samples". Last year DHL moved to a paperless system and that extra 1-2 days delay is probably going away anyway. They may have even done it because they saw this coming. People have been grumbling about the de-minimis stuff for a while now.
Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong
#308Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s a govt service, they are not trying to meet wall street quarterly shareholder expectations
It's worth noting that Congress has been trying to force the USPS to run itself like a self-sustaining business for decades at this point. It started in 1970 with the Postal Reorganization Act, which transformed it from a government department to an independent government entity that was expected to fund its operations entirely through its own revenue. Then in 2006, a Republican-controlled Congress passed the PAEA wh…
> It's worth noting that Congress has been trying to force the USPS to run itself like a self-sustaining business for decades at this point.
That's the narrative, but this was always a blatant bid to destroy the USPS. There's simply no other explanation.
Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The question is how did we let it go this far? Because allowing countries to maximize their comparative advantages is great for economic growth. It doesn’t make sense for every nation on earth to have their own copy of every industrial sector. We don’t need all nations to manufacture their own jet engines, oil tankers, t-shirts, and Tylenol. Trade is good. The idea that China is a major security threat is basically…
> The idea that China is a major security threat is basically brand new. And as far as I can see, that idea comes from China simply having grown its economy to a size comparable to that of the USA, nothing else? But everyone during the Chinese miracle growth (from 1980's to today) expected China would've become the largest economy in the world by the 2020's. I guess people just didn't really take that seriously until…
We hoped China would grow into a Korea or Japan, instead we got ourselves a Russia.
Re: Suspension of inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong
#310Fully support this move. America needs to build.
> America needs to build.
Without the needed parts apparently