NBC News reports President Donald Trump’s chaotic tariffs are pushing UPS to toss U.S.-bound packages with customs paperwork issues.
“Thousands of U.S.-bound packages shipped by UPS are trapped at hubs across the country, unable to clear the maze of new customs requirements imposed by the Trump administration,” NBC reports. “As packages flagged for customs issues pile up in UPS warehouses, the company told NBC News it has begun ‘disposing of’ some shipments.”
NBC News also reports frustrated UPS customers are claiming to wait for weeks while navigating UPS’ conflicted tracking updates.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Matthew Wasserbach, brokerage manager of Express Customs Clearance, which helps clients move shipments through customs. “It’s totally unprecedented.”
Wasserbach said his company has seen a spike in inquiries for help with UPS customs clearance as the UPS backlog grows.
Ashley Freberg told NBC she is missing several boxes of journals, records and books she shipped through UPS from England in September. The documents left their point of origin on Sept. 18, according to tracking documents she shared with NBC News. She has since received two separate notifications from UPS that her personal mementos had not cleared customs and as a result had been “disposed of” by UPS.
“It’s almost impossible to get through to anybody to figure out what is happening,” said Freberg. “Are my packages actually being destroyed or not?”
NBC reports Trump threw international shipping “into chaos” after he revoked the long-standing “de minimis” tariff exemption for low-value packages ended on Aug. 29.
“Packages with values of $800 or less, which were previously allowed to enter the United States duty-free, are now subject to a range of tariffs and fees,” NBC reports. “They include hundreds of country-specific rates, or President Donald Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs, as well as new levies on certain products and materials."
International shipping to the United States today is “far more complex and costly than it was even two months ago,” NBC said, catching private individuals and veteran exporters alike in a “customs conundrum.”
Commenters on X claim “non-commercial packages are being held,” as well as “commercial packages that recipients won't pay the tariff charges for.”
Other X users say the complicated system under Trump makes them leery of certain purchases: “Almost bought on an item on eBay for $75. Sports equipment. Noticed in the notes it was shipping from Japan and the buyer was responsible for all import duties, taxes, etc. Lol, nope. Not getting involved in that s—— show for something I really don’t even need,” one commenter said. “[I] would have definitely bought it in an alternate universe where the government understands economics.”
Red the full NBC News report at this link.