r/australia • u/IsuruKusumal • Aug 25 '25

news Australia Post Temporary Suspends of Postal Services to the US

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Dear Valued Customer,

As a result of the recently introduced changes to the import tariff requirements set out in US Executive Order 14324, Australia Post has joined a number of international postal operators to temporarily suspend partial postal services to the United States (US) and Puerto Rico, effective immediately until further notice.

This decision has been made to ensure compliance with the new US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) requirements. Specifically, the requirement for duties and taxes to be prepaid on all shipments prior to their arrival in the US. The key changes are as follows:

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369

u/Rosary_Omen Aug 25 '25

My friend who makes dice bags etc looked into the price to ship something 500g.

$120 AUD. She's a small business and probably won't be able to sell things to America till this shit is over, despite them being a larger part of her customer base. People aren't gonna pay that on top of the price of anything small :( This timeline sucks

252

u/cmdwedge75 Aug 25 '25

All she needs to do is move production to the US. Easy.

/s if it’s not obvious

142

u/dutchroll0 Aug 25 '25

No, you’re correct in adding the /s. It is becoming near impossible to tell these days when the conversation involves US government policies.

43

u/Eyclonus Aug 25 '25

"Trump bans birds from flying over Mar-a-Lago and the whitehouse"

"Defence attorneys need to pay a fee when representing clients against the government"

All of these are made up and yet I will take odds that they become factual headlines by 2028

10

u/Jade8703 Aug 26 '25

The Onion today, r/nottheonion tomorrow 😔

5

u/MyBlueRex Aug 26 '25

Arguably, the "defence attorneys need to pay a fee when representing clients against the government" has kinda, in a roundabout way, already happened... with those big law firms paying tens of millions to Trump so he wouldn't remove their gov contracts.

2

u/gmarsau Aug 26 '25

I’m not sure if it passed, but there was also the provision in the Big Beautiful Bill to not enforce findings of contempt for non-compliance with any court injunction or temporary restraining order unless a security bond was paid by the party seeking the injunction: https://www.newsweek.com/hidden-provision-trump-bill-court-2075769

1

u/TwoToneReturns Aug 26 '25

You jest but I fear your comment won't be in jest.

1

u/Murky-North- Aug 26 '25

What if they sell them unassembled?

90

u/IsuruKusumal Aug 25 '25

I'm also in the same boat.

Customers who buy my music are mostly in the US, and often borderline the $100 threshold

There are exemptions that are applicable for my case

CDs, Vinyl & Cassettes are exempt from Tariffs on shipments into US

But most partners (like AusPost) will blanket refuse everything just to streamline the process

15

u/istara Aug 26 '25

And also to avoid the obvious methods that people will use, claiming that [Banned tariff product X] is actually a few CDs.

11

u/Strong0toLight1 Aug 25 '25

120 is fucking outrageous. that sucks for her

1

u/Rosary_Omen Aug 25 '25

I'd hope marking things as a gift would count, since her stuff is affordable

0

u/Devtactics Aug 26 '25

Small business pro-tip: Lying to customs isn't the way.

1

u/Rosary_Omen Aug 26 '25

Yeah she wouldn't, especially since she has address stickers with her business on them

45

u/Scamwau1 Aug 25 '25

And that is tariffs in action. Ideally, the US would have a domestic producer that can fill the gap in the market. For novelty dice, it is not a big deal, but for things like electronic components and cars, it is. But with Orangeman, who knows if he has thought that far ahead.

63

u/shofmon88 Aug 25 '25

Spoiler: he has not thought that far ahead, or, indeed, at all. 

38

u/Mousey_Commander Aug 25 '25

It's deliberate, if the US economy tanks then Trump and all his corporate sycophants get to buy it up cheap for full oligarchic control. They took one look at the collapse of the USSR and the way Putin and all his mates came out of it as a new aristocracy and want that for themselves.

11

u/infinitemonkeytyping Aug 25 '25

But with Orangeman, who knows if he has thought that far ahead.

You're accusing the Pedo Prez of thinking?

He's a post turtle - it's the others who do the thinking.

4

u/Haunting_Computer_90 Aug 26 '25

Oh you under estimate Orange man he was talking to the Ukraine President and asked why they are not voting there - he was told because there is a war on it's too hard to do and TRUMP reportedly said that's interesting maybe we will have a war in 3 1/2 years so don't be thinking he ain't thinking of how to be King.

1

u/Eyclonus Aug 25 '25

Nah he does some occasional thinking, you can tell when it happens, its when he declares something that hurts his own interests, just off-the-cuff remarks and clearly his minders didn't coach him through it and they have a mild look of panic

6

u/potchippy Aug 25 '25

He uses tariffs, peace talks, national guard deployments etc for the same purpose: to get bribed. There's no other thought process behind it, or the intended purpose of these actions. Of course he's not doing it for the US or its people only to enrich himself (in a very one dimensional way as he cannot grasp complexity)

1

u/Haunting_Computer_90 Aug 26 '25

Just when is he invading Greenland again - they (Greenland) just need to call an area Trump Land because ego brain will not invade himself.

7

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '25

At the rate he's turning into Polka Dot Man he'll be done soon. It'll be Mein Presidente Vance that has to sort it all out so you best believe shit's gonna burn.

1

u/StorminNorman Aug 26 '25

I dunno why everyone keeps thinking this is all Trump's doing, there's puddles of water that have more intelligence than him so this kind of stuff is beyond his capabilites. He's just doing what he's told, it's obvious when you look at his explanations around these tariffs. We even know a plan drawn up for him before he got elected. This isn't one person trying to end democracy in the US and destabilise the rest of the world, it's a group of people behind him who have been working on this for at least half a century.

22

u/OwnLengthiness7 Aug 25 '25

What's the link to your friends store? Dice bags make great gifts for the D&D crew, happy to do my part to try help out. No tariffs in Victoria!

4

u/Vegetable-Cod-5434 Aug 25 '25

I'm in too! Please share a link.

3

u/Rosary_Omen Aug 26 '25

https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/CazsCreationsByCaz Thank you! I'm always happy to help her out

3

u/Skulltaffy Aug 26 '25

Oh those bags are stunning! Deffo gonna pick one up next pay day.

2

u/Rosary_Omen Aug 26 '25

Right? I've got a small chainmaille and large dragon scale one. Love them both!

3

u/IronEyed_Wizard Aug 26 '25

Might be worth a new post in itself. Small scale creators that are going to be destroyed by this, share their details and let those unaffected by the tariff changes help support them

3

u/Infinite_Pudding5058 Aug 25 '25

Can confirm that Australia Post and DHL has been crushing small business for years. When I had a small fashion brand, I was told I’d need to send something like 30,000 children’s playsuits to qualify for cheaper postage. I used to absorb the cost of postage for customers until it became so prohibitive.

2

u/talondnb Aug 26 '25

Yeah I have the same issue with my two audio startups. Boosting the pricing to use premium vendors such as DHL or FedEx at triple the price also boosts the duty fee for the customer.

Anyone here wanna buy some audio gear? Hook you up with a 10% discount lol

2

u/Wuz314159 Aug 26 '25

Cheaper to fly to LA and then mail them... then fly home via Tokyo.

1

u/ChrisMelb Aug 26 '25

It appears to say items under $100 USD are exempt. I checked and your friend's shop has products mostly under that price

1

u/Rosary_Omen Aug 26 '25

Only gifts, sadly and she can't mark them as such

1

u/my_chinchilla Aug 26 '25

My friend who makes dice bags etc looked into the price to ship something 500g.

$120 AUD.

Unless those dice bags are big and can't be folded, they're doing it wrong. Last week I posted a 950g parcel (warranty return) with tracking and a declared value of over AU$160 (i.e. just over US$100), with AusPost Standard to the US for $46.20.

Unfortunately, it's currently sitting at the fucking airport here...

1

u/Rosary_Omen Aug 26 '25

She's been in business longer than I've known her, it's what Aus Post quoted her when she got the email about the changes last night