UPS Chaos Shows Fares Are Finally Coming to Our Doors

Rich DeThomas never thought ordering Italian wine would be this complicated.

At the end of August, he ordered a dozen bottles of red wine be sent to his home in Huntsville, Alabama. He never showed up. Citing recent rate changes, UPS requested more details about shipping before saying it could not deliver the wine to DeThomas at all.

After receiving a replacement shipment from the vineyard, he also received a $13 bill from UPS for “abandoning” the first crate.

“It’s a headache to deal with all of this,” DeThomas said. “What’s going on? What’s going on?”

DeThomas is among the Americans finally suffering the consequences of President Donald Trump’s April announcement of drastic tariffs on most countries. The latest headaches for many customers come after the Trump administration closed the de minimis loophole in August, which exempted shipments worth less than $800 — and many consumers’ most common purchases — from tariffs.

Today, customers realize that in addition to paying customs duties, some must become amateur customs brokers to ensure their online order arrives.

The chaos became especially evident for UPS customers like DeThomas. The service left its customers’ U.S.-bound packages in its warehouses for days or weeks and, in some cases, said it would get rid of their shipments because of customs issues since a loophole closed. for small shipments under $800.

UPS acknowledged that many packages were unable to clear customs due to issues with U.S. import regulations. A spokesperson told Business Insider that “more than 90% of all imported packages” that pass through the UPS network clear customs on the first day they arrive in the United States.

Tariff tedium frustrates consumers

After Trump’s so-called Liberation Day, business leaders and economists predicted rising inflation and shipping chaos. Walmart and Amazon were among the companies that announced they would raise prices. Importers increased their orders to build up stocks before the tariffs took effect.

Then we waited. Over the summer, inflation rose slightly and stories of surprise bills for online orders began to spread.

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NOW, consumers say they need to educate themselves on the weird aspects of the rates — what is the country of origin of the product? How can I verify that I am being billed correctly?

In early September, after DeThomas’ 12 bottles of red wine were held for several days at UPS’s Louisville facility, a UPS customs broker told him by email that they would either be abandoned or returned to the shipper at their expense. “Personal imports of wine ORDERED ONLINE are NOT permitted,” the broker wrote.

UPS did not respond to Business Insider’s questions about DeThomas’ experience, including what policy his broker was referring to when he said online wine orders were not allowed.

“If it’s going to happen, I’m not ordering it,” DeThomas said.

Katie Golden, who resells clothes on Depop, said she expected to pay customs duties when she ordered $179 worth of second-hand clothes from the UK. Still, she said, she was surprised when UPS sent her a bill for $769 when her shipment arrived in the United States, including a $54 brokerage fee.

Golden said she was trying to challenge the rate and reduce her bill. She said she suspected UPS misunderstood the contents of her shipment and applied the wrong tariff rate.

“It shouldn’t be that hard to order a package,” she said.

Some UPS customers told Business Insider they were trying to contest their tariff bills after their shipments were hit by the 200% duty rate on Russian aluminum – among the highest rates the US imposes on imports – even though their shipments did not contain metal from the country.

Tom Strohl, president of consulting firm Oliver Wight Americas, said customers may look for alternatives to buying products overseas if they continue to have problems with tariffs. Companies that ship to the United States should either build tariffs into their purchase prices or allow customers to pay tariffs when they place their order, he said.

“If customers are confused, it’s going to affect their brand,” he said. “To me, this is the worst possible outcome for a supplier.”

That’s a concern for businesses that, like many in the U.S., are bracing for another busy holiday delivery period. Kunal Sharma, owner of two Ontario, Canada-based businesses that sell luxury car parts, said he has already seen UPS lose or return some of its U.S.-bound shipments since the de minimis loophole ended.

“I can’t even imagine how bad it’s going to get on Black Friday,” he said.

Economists expect tariffs to affect WE consumers in other ways, for example by raising prices and making it more difficult to get a job. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the tariffs prevented the central bank from cutting interest rates sooner.

But the effects of duties on shipping and ordering products abroad may continue to be one of the clearest examples of duties hitting Americans.

George Hayes plans to reduce his orders outside the United States.

The North Carolina resident imports figurines, pillows and other products popular in the Otaku community from Japan. Products there are often less expensive than their equivalents sold in the United States. However, with the new tariffs on small shipments and backups in services like UPS, Hayes said he plans not to order more until there is clearer guidance on what he can and cannot import and what tariffs will apply.

Hayes paid about $700 in customs duties on his last shipment. But it’s not just about cost: For many items, he now has to declare the country in which they were made in order to determine the correct price – a challenge, he says, since he buys many items second-hand.

Before the de minimis loophole ended, he said, it was something he never had to think about.

“I would love to see this happen again,” Hayes said of the system before this year’s tariffs. “We didn’t know how good we had it.”

Do you have a story to share about UPS or pricing? Contact this journalist at abitter@businessinsider.com or 808-854-4501.