Over 30 countries including Japan, Australia, and South Korea have stopped shipping parcels to the U.S. after the de minimis exemption ended, which let packages under $800 enter duty-free. The change threatens South Korea's K-beauty industry and platforms like YesStyle, while raising questions about who pays the new customs charges.
Hey, good morning everybody, good afternoon, or good evening depending on what part of the world you're at today. I was just reading the newspaper here at the kitchen table and I stumbled upon an article that says countries around the world are suspending shipments to the United States. That kind of got my attention. It goes on to say here, postal services in many countries including Japan, Australia, and Mexico have paused or stopped delivering most packages to the United States. This follows the end of a longstanding United States rule known as de minimis exception that would allow inexpensive parcels worth $800 or less to enter the country duty-free. So right away, I'm starting to think that I can no longer get snacks sent to me from my daughter who lives in Korea because they're less than $800. I don't know how this is going to play out yet, but just kind of ciphering it all here. And then some of the statistics here, there's over 30 countries that recently suspended shipments to the United States. 30 countries. That's a big one. And then the other big number that caught my eye is 1.36 billion packages were shipped to the United States from other countries in 2024. So that's a lot of shipping. And for all that to stop at the end of August, and now these companies are kind of scrambling right now to update their systems to include new charges. So I hear new charges and I think, who's going to pay the new charges? I'm kind of guessing we are, being the consumer. Is it going to hurt small business? Is it going to hurt corporate business? There's so many questions I have with this, and I guess a lot of those questions won't be answered right off the get-go, of course, but down the road we'll see how it affects us. I'm going on to read here, South Korea, um, is going to be affected greatly by this. The K-beauty industry in particular is at risk, including direct-to-customer platforms like YesStyle, Olive Young, and more. There is a big arena here that's going to be affected by this new change. So I'm kind of curious to see how this is going to go because I think we've all ordered something online before that's worth less than $800 to be shipped to our house. Supporters say ending the de minimis rule in the US will stop counterfeit or illegal goods and brings billions of dollars of new tax revenue. Opponents say it raises costs for consumers and hurts small businesses and online sellers. So you can see how this is going to create a little bit of chaos worldwide. Bottom line, time will tell. That's all I can say about that. But You know what, you guys, you the viewers had great comments after our last episode. You gave us some great insight. So if there's a particular subject that you would like us to cover, please mention it in the comments below and we will do our best to get that out to you. We'd love to hear from you. We appreciate you tuning in. Thank you very much. You have a great day or great night.
