Chris Bissette
CREATOR
7 months ago
Project Update: More USA shipping news
Hi everyone,
Another update re: the shipping situation to the USA. This is a fairly long post but please do read it all. I'm not happy about the current situation, and I'm doing the best I can to navigate it. Rather than explain all the new rules etc., I'll instead link you to this thread by Maz from Rowan, Rook, and Decard, who is much better informed on the matter than I am. Go and read that, and then come back here. It's important context for anybody who doesn't know what's going on.
Done it? Great.
This morning I went to the post office, where I discovered that the final batch of parcels I dropped off last week hasn't yet been collected. It likely would have been collected today, but for reasons I'm about to explain I've chosen to bring them home with me.
Over the weekend Royal Mail announced that they are no longer accepting exports to the USA as of today. This is a temporary measure as they set up a new system to handle the new rules. The new system should be live on August 29th. The gap is to allow them to process packages that are already in transit and get them across the border before the new rules come into place.
In theory, that should include the parcels I dropped off last week. And in theory, I probably could have left them to go today and had it all be fine. There are a couple of reasons why I decided not to risk it.
The first is to do with the HS codes on my customs forms. All of mine are listed as 4901990000 (the code for printed books), and should theoretically be fine to get through US customs without incurring charges. But I'd prefer that the labels also contain the second code that Maz talks about, code 9903.01.31 (informational materials), just to increase the odds that no tariffs are levied on these shipments - especially because it looks like I'll be the one who has to pay said tariffs (which we'll get to later in this update).
The upshot of this is that physical fulfillment of Blood In The Margins is no longer complete. Today I'm going to attempt to get refunds for all of the shipping labels I purchased. When the new system goes live on the 29th I'm going to try and figure out how to get all the right information in the right place. And then I'll need to repurchase shipping labels, relabel the packages, and take them to the post office again.
The batch of orders that I've come home with doesn't just contain orders going to the USA, so this unfortuantely does impact some UK and rest of the world customers as well. I'll get your orders back in the post to you as soon as physically possible. It's likely that only the UK customers will actually notice the delay here, since your parcels should be with you already whereas a couple of days isn't really noticeable when shipping to Europe/New Zealand/etc.
(As an aside, please don't ask me to check through the batch to see if your order is contained in it. The last thing I want to do while trying to deal with all of this shit is to go sifting through boxes looking for individual orders.)
As for what happens if I do all the right things and the parcels into the USA still get hit with tariffs? Royal Mail has this to say:
Another update re: the shipping situation to the USA. This is a fairly long post but please do read it all. I'm not happy about the current situation, and I'm doing the best I can to navigate it. Rather than explain all the new rules etc., I'll instead link you to this thread by Maz from Rowan, Rook, and Decard, who is much better informed on the matter than I am. Go and read that, and then come back here. It's important context for anybody who doesn't know what's going on.
Done it? Great.
This morning I went to the post office, where I discovered that the final batch of parcels I dropped off last week hasn't yet been collected. It likely would have been collected today, but for reasons I'm about to explain I've chosen to bring them home with me.
Over the weekend Royal Mail announced that they are no longer accepting exports to the USA as of today. This is a temporary measure as they set up a new system to handle the new rules. The new system should be live on August 29th. The gap is to allow them to process packages that are already in transit and get them across the border before the new rules come into place.
In theory, that should include the parcels I dropped off last week. And in theory, I probably could have left them to go today and had it all be fine. There are a couple of reasons why I decided not to risk it.
The first is to do with the HS codes on my customs forms. All of mine are listed as 4901990000 (the code for printed books), and should theoretically be fine to get through US customs without incurring charges. But I'd prefer that the labels also contain the second code that Maz talks about, code 9903.01.31 (informational materials), just to increase the odds that no tariffs are levied on these shipments - especially because it looks like I'll be the one who has to pay said tariffs (which we'll get to later in this update).
The upshot of this is that physical fulfillment of Blood In The Margins is no longer complete. Today I'm going to attempt to get refunds for all of the shipping labels I purchased. When the new system goes live on the 29th I'm going to try and figure out how to get all the right information in the right place. And then I'll need to repurchase shipping labels, relabel the packages, and take them to the post office again.
The batch of orders that I've come home with doesn't just contain orders going to the USA, so this unfortuantely does impact some UK and rest of the world customers as well. I'll get your orders back in the post to you as soon as physically possible. It's likely that only the UK customers will actually notice the delay here, since your parcels should be with you already whereas a couple of days isn't really noticeable when shipping to Europe/New Zealand/etc.
(As an aside, please don't ask me to check through the batch to see if your order is contained in it. The last thing I want to do while trying to deal with all of this shit is to go sifting through boxes looking for individual orders.)
As for what happens if I do all the right things and the parcels into the USA still get hit with tariffs? Royal Mail has this to say:
Royal Mail’s PDDP service will calculate and invoice you for the correct duties on your items, but we are recommending customers familiarise themselves with the country tariffs which will apply to the goods they send. Royal Mail will make available simple tools/resources to help with this in the coming days.
I read that as meaning that I'm the one who's going to be responsible for paying any tariffs or duties levied against my parcels. And, frankly, I can't afford that. If I get hit with charges of $80 per item that I've sent into the USA I don't know how I'll pay them, and it will effectively destroy my business. So let's hope it doesn't come to that. And if you're in the USA, please write to your representatives and let them know how much you oppose this nonsense.
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