USA UPS headsup, "UPS discarding packages not meeting customs requirement" - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Simmed
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2025, 02:36:37 am
content: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/ups-delay-customs-tariffs-packages-destroyed-rcna236607Quote

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2025, 07:57:31 am
content: Quote from: Simmed on October 11, 2025, 02:36:37 amDisappointing, but not a surprise.It is an extension of standard practices which occur for other reasons unrelated to T'rump's tariffs.Of course the "flagging" and go/nogo will be determined bypoorly-paid staff who are probably most concerned that they aren't penalised for letting something through incorrectlyhastily thrown together software continually being maintained due to changing requirementsPersonally, given a choice I simply have and will avoid putting myself at risk of that understandable phenomenon.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2025, 08:27:11 am
content: Quote from: Simmed on October 11, 2025, 02:36:37 amThat's OK, just file a class action against UPS and they will resolve it.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2025, 08:37:34 am
content: Quote from: tszaboo on October 11, 2025, 08:27:11 amYou are blissfully ignorant of history and commercial practice.That would work if, and only if:they are proven guiltythe penalty is much higher than the cost of discarding thingsNeitheris likely to happen. other explanations are less complementary. I am tending towards the other explanations being correctstartwith the Ford Pinto

author: u666sa
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2025, 11:07:20 am
content: End goal here is financial losses for China. Customers, for whom the package is bound, are not loosing money, they'll file a claim with merchant and get a refund. Chinese sellers will eat that loss -- and with them, the Chinese economy. Mind you, the idea is not to make it easy and clear or shmondy pondy for you to send money to China and get your stuff quick, no. The idea is make it hard, unreliable, and not worth the effort. It worked on me, since May I haven't ordered anything from aliexpress, all my orders were from amazon.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2025, 11:11:15 am
content: Quote from: u666sa on October 11, 2025, 11:07:20 amAmazon is the same as Aliexpress. All the stuff that is available on Aliexpress is also available on Amazon. So this isn't hurting the Chinese in any way. And Bezos gets a bit richer.

author: Marco
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2025, 11:23:29 am
content: The bulk shippers also have way better automation and cooperation with customs, they bring in a container of packages with prepaid duties and get spot checked. It's the smaller companies doing individual shipments which are getting destroyed at the moment.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2025, 11:37:32 am
content: Quote from: u666sa on October 11, 2025, 11:07:20 amI doubt that the Chinese economy is super dependent upon Temu, Aliexpress etc. All the big factories in China will be using customs clearance agents and yeah they may pay more in tariffs but their goods will get through eventually. Longer term whether it has any impact on the Chinese economy remains to be seen, US is only about 15% of export value with China so it could hurt but I doubt it will devastate given T will be limited to how much pressure he can apply with American interdependence on China being a key limitation.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2025, 10:48:29 pm
content: Just last week, a researcher came to me for help in modifying a lab space for some specific type of analysis. (It is light sensitive, so they need red darkroom lights to work in, hence coming to me.)Why? Up to now, they have been sending their samples (which involve euthanizing and then harvesting tissue from hundreds of specially-bred zebrafish; the fish are so small that it requires hundreds to amass enough for a single reaction) to colleagues in USA for analysis, packed with dry ice of course. Well, thanks to this tariff and customs BS, the last shipment was held up at customs so long it went bad, ruining weeks of work at enormous expense and wasted fish lives. So they’ve decided they have no choice but to do the analysis themselves from now on.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2025, 11:16:39 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on October 11, 2025, 10:48:29 pmWell, hopefully their loss (actually ours, USA) will be your gain in the end.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2025, 03:53:58 am
content: I've used UPS, FedEx, and DHL recently (for international PCB orders). DHL and FedEx are both fine, but expensive.UPS is BY FAR both the cheapest and least likely to go smoothly.The fact that they still want you to write the delivery driver a physical check as the best way to pay the tariff/duty is insane.They claimed my last shipment of circuit boards contained aluminum (which it didn't) so my tariff was 5.5x more than it should have been (still disputing this).

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2025, 03:59:58 am
content: Quote from: Smokey on October 12, 2025, 03:53:58 amWhat about USPS, the good old post office?

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2025, 04:24:01 am
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on October 12, 2025, 03:59:58 amshould have been more specific. For international PCB orders. USPS is fine for domestic. Actually I had DHL offload the last mile to USPS on one of the international orders. Fine with me as long as they get here on time and don't make me jump through extra hoops.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 12, 2025, 10:08:48 am
content: Quote from: Smokey on October 12, 2025, 03:53:58 amThat is good info. In my mind UPS was always the most reliable of the three. But I guess UPS got hijacked by the beancounters and they now drive the delivery van off the cliff