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Why are many shippers still getting everything through? Are they using tech like Flexport to handle the complexity? Is this a situation where if you abide by t

Why are many shippers still getting everything through? Are they using tech like Flexport to handle the complexity? Is this a situation where if you abide by the letter of the law without tech it doesn’t work, where if you use software and/or route through nations that already have no tariff deals with US you get your items through? I just bought (last week) an EEG kit from Europe to US for personal sleep studies. It has similar metals that you indicate. There was no issue in my shipper getting it through. There was no tariff added. There was no certificate of analysis.

mschuster91 1y ago
Look at the rates FedEx etc. will charge you for DDP service, and there's your answer.
post_break 1y ago
They have teams that are dedicated to handling tariffs and imports. Smaller companies that used traditional shipping now having to jump through insane loops are just calling it quits.
- kjs3 1y ago
  Having bumped into this world via family...even small manufacturers that do substantial portion of their business overseas often have dedicated import/export people, or contract to firms that handle it. It's just smart business. I think it's the scale and the level of uncertainty that the current round of economic chicken has the SMBs hedging.
ranger_danger 1y ago
> Why are larger shippers still getting everything through? Boats. They're still dealing with tariffs, but it's a lot easier to declare an entire container than individual airmail packets. But having a US presence that can then receive the containers and ship domestically, is kindof reserved for the big boys.
zaptheimpaler 1y ago
There's a comment asking about this on the blog that they replied to: > Mouser and Digikey have the same issues, but have professional import customs brokers and do these import procedures and handle all these charges by themselves. The average small US customer have no clue how to do import, they wait someone to deliver their parcel to their door. Which now do not happens, and after several weeks of this parcel hanging at US customs they ask the seller “where is my parcel? I ordered this way many times and every time the parcel arrived to my door” meantime they have to pay import taxes, storage fees etc etc and they simple refuse the parcel and return it back. This is why DHL and UPS refuse to take parcels to USA now until they figure out how to calculate these import tariffs correctly so they can be pre-paid in advance i.e. the US customer knows what he have to pay $$$ tariffs in advance and all these returns stop.
- mschuster91 1y ago
  Digikey is nuts anyway. I ordered less than 100 euros worth of stuff (but still free shipping?!) for a ham radio DATV receiver kit from them and the package showed up like 30 hours later. From the US to Germany. And given just how freaking many components it was, handling of all these single-piece mini packages is insane. I seriously wonder if Digikey lost money on that order, shipping alone must have cost 20-30€, and on top come all the antistatic bags, handling costs, payment costs.
  - kjs3 1y ago
    the package showed up like 30 hours later Or...they have a warehouse in Germany? all these single-piece mini packages Automated pick-and-package.
    - CalChris 1y ago
      DigiKey itself only ships from Thief River Falls. But they also have direct shipping from European suppliers to European customers (Marketplace). So I'm just gonna guess that those parts had to have been shipped from a European supplier.

mschuster91 1y ago

Look at the rates FedEx etc. will charge you for DDP service, and there's your answer.

post_break 1y ago

They have teams that are dedicated to handling tariffs and imports. Smaller companies that used traditional shipping now having to jump through insane loops are just calling it quits.

kjs3 1y ago
Having bumped into this world via family...even small manufacturers that do substantial portion of their business overseas often have dedicated import/export people, or contract to firms that handle it. It's just smart business. I think it's the scale and the level of uncertainty that the current round of economic chicken has the SMBs hedging.

ranger_danger 1y ago

> Why are larger shippers still getting everything through? Boats. They're still dealing with tariffs, but it's a lot easier to declare an entire container than individual airmail packets. But having a US presence that can then receive the containers and ship domestically, is kindof reserved for the big boys.

zaptheimpaler 1y ago

There's a comment asking about this on the blog that they replied to: > Mouser and Digikey have the same issues, but have professional import customs brokers and do these import procedures and handle all these charges by themselves. The average small US customer have no clue how to do import, they wait someone to deliver their parcel to their door. Which now do not happens, and after several weeks of this parcel hanging at US customs they ask the seller “where is my parcel? I ordered this way many times and every time the parcel arrived to my door” meantime they have to pay import taxes, storage fees etc etc and they simple refuse the parcel and return it back. This is why DHL and UPS refuse to take parcels to USA now until they figure out how to calculate these import tariffs correctly so they can be pre-paid in advance i.e. the US customer knows what he have to pay $$$ tariffs in advance and all these returns stop.

mschuster91 1y ago
Digikey is nuts anyway. I ordered less than 100 euros worth of stuff (but still free shipping?!) for a ham radio DATV receiver kit from them and the package showed up like 30 hours later. From the US to Germany. And given just how freaking many components it was, handling of all these single-piece mini packages is insane. I seriously wonder if Digikey lost money on that order, shipping alone must have cost 20-30€, and on top come all the antistatic bags, handling costs, payment costs.
- kjs3 1y ago
  the package showed up like 30 hours later Or...they have a warehouse in Germany? all these single-piece mini packages Automated pick-and-package.
  - CalChris 1y ago
    DigiKey itself only ships from Thief River Falls. But they also have direct shipping from European suppliers to European customers (Marketplace). So I'm just gonna guess that those parts had to have been shipped from a European supplier.