The business of delivering packages has gotten more complex amid the latest wave of tariffs, and in some cases, shipping companies such as UPS wind up simply trashing some packages.
As the Trump administration increasingly wields tariffs as economic and foreign policy tools, international packages coming into the United States need more information to clear customs. Tariffs have been deployed or increased recently on certain products, such as steel and aluminum, and most recently lumber and wood products, including upholstered furniture and kitchen cabinets.
And additional tariffs have been levied on products coming from certain nations, including Canada, China, Mexico and India, which recently had tariffs increased to 50%. Also complicating matters: the Aug. 29 scrapping of the de minimis exemption, which had excluded tariffs on packages shipped to the United States valued at $800 or less.
Shipments may be stuck in limbo as UPS, FedEx, DHL Express and other shipping companies seek the information required to adhere to new tariffs, including whether a product contains wood or aluminum, or whether any or all of it was manufactured in a country with elevated tariffs. The companies also have to know if the required tariff charges were made to ship the packages.
While shipping companies work through the customs questions, consumers who are awaiting purchased goods have grown frustrated about delays or the likelihood of their package arriving.
“Are my packages actually being destroyed or not?” Ashley Freberg wondered in an interview with NBC News on Oct. 10. Freberg said she was missing several boxes she shipped via UPS from England in September. After getting notices that her packages did not clear customs and were subsequently destroyed, she then got an update that the shipments were on the way.
Other customers have posted on Reddit about how they have gotten surprise bills from UPS to pay for increased tariffs. “Am I about to get hit with a $1,000 tariff and broker bill or lose this package entirely?” posted one person who said they had ordered custom wedding bands from Canada, where many goods carry a 35% tariff.
UPS, which delivers millions of packages a day, is clearing more than 90% of imported packages on the first day of entry, the company told USA TODAY in a statement.
But that still can leave thousands of packages in limbo. “Because of changes to U.S. import regulations, we are seeing many packages that are unable to clear customs due to missing or incomplete information about the shipment required for customs clearance,” the company said in a statement.
UPS makes “multiple attempts to obtain the necessary information to clear delayed shipments and deliver them,” the company said. After making more than three contacts per package, sometimes UPS “cannot obtain the necessary information to clear the package,” according to the company. In that case, UPS can return the package to the shipper if they pay for the expense, the company says.
UPS may sometimes reach out to the recipient for the needed information. But if the company cannot, and the original shipper doesn’t respond and the “package cannot be cleared for delivery, it is considered abandoned, and we dispose of it in compliance with U.S. customs regulations,” UPS said in its statement.
Other shippers are facing the same problems. When more customs information is needed, FedEx “actively works with senders to update paperwork to resubmit to (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) or return shipments to senders,” the company said in a statement.
Though it is “not a common practice,” some shipments are tossed, FedEx said. “In some cases, shippers can request that packages be disposed of if they would prefer not to pay to return to sender,” the company said. “In those rare cases, recipients are notified at the direction of the shipper.”
DHL Express also has gotten more “U.S.-bound shipments containing missing or incomplete customs information” in the increasingly complex shipping environment.
But the company does not “dispose of packages that aren’t cleared by Customs,” the company said in a statement to USA TODAY. If the company’s attempts to get the documentation don’t succeed within 15 days, shipments are returned to the shipper, DHL said.
Like UPS and FedEx, DHL has information about tariffs and the latest customs information updates on its website.
Some companies may decide not to ship to the United States because of the fluid tariffs. China’s Gstar Electronics Appliance Co. used to generate more than 60% of its revenue from U.S. orders, but it has now “given up” on the American market, the company’s founder and CEO, Jacky Ren, told Reuters.
He is seeking new customers beyond the United States because the threat of a triple-digit tariff increase on Chinese goods has left Ren “extremely exhausted.”
Contributing: Reuters
Mike Snider is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @mikegsnider.bsky.social & @mikesnider & msnider@usatoday.com
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