"Recent U.K. order total, shipping and tariff fee included" Topic

I recently placed an order with a U.K. historical mini. company, which I will not name because this post is not meant as a criticism of them specifically.

Just an informational example of what the tariffs are costing us, regardless if your attitude is "well that's not bad, I can absorb that" or "this is outrageous and wasn't even necessary", or somewhere in between.

The total of the products themselves was $550.00 USD. The package weighs about 7 lbs.

Shipping for this order was $47.00 USD.
The tariff fee of 10% was $55.00 USD.

That is a total of $102.00 USD in shipping and fees to get a 7 lb. package the size of small toaster from the U.K.

And people say this won't hurt the overall economy and won't shrink economic activity? Ok.

Shipping to and from the UK has always been expensive, so I think that cost is a wash. The 10% tariff fee though does increase the cost of goods & services from outside the US.

Wouldn't the postage also have been $47 USD last year, Baranovich? So, yes, 10% tax on the order. And please point me to the person who said taxes don't affect the economy. I'd also like to meet the ones who think the US government can continue indefinitely to spend $7 USD trillion a year while collecting "only" $5 USD trillion in taxes. Are there other tax hikes you'd prefer? Or spending on you you'd like to see cut? (Everyone would like the government to spend less on someone else, I think.)

As I understand it, the argument of the pro-tariff faction is not that it will have no economic impact, but that it will reduce the deficit, and that some manufacturing will be repatriated. In the specific case of miniature warfare, I think this unlikely, but I hesitate to go around shouting "reduce the deficit by raising taxes on stuff I don't buy!"

What's your solution?

The total for shipping was not $102 USD, it was $47 USD, with a $55 USD tariff on $550 USD of goods.

As others pointed out, the money paid for shipping surely can't be a surprise and is an expected expense when ordering in the US from the UK.

There are many older US buyers here who should recall the days where UK postage was just a flat percentage of the invoice amount.

Typically those percentages were at least 15-20% of invoice, sometimes more that that.

The OP paid a mere 8.5% for shipping. After you factor in the time value of money compared to the older rates, he got a veritable steal for shipping. Ironically, the $102 USD (18.5%) on his $550 USD order falls in that "old school" range, just being paid with 2025 dollars now.

Please note that we are talking about toy soldiers, a want and not a need to existence. Fortunately we still get to decide how to spend our money and in this case the OP chose to spend it on luxury goods.

He knew what the final cost would be when he clicked to confirm the order. If he didn't want to spend that much he didn't have to unless someone threatened to shoot a puppy or some other unlikely deterrent if he didn't buy his toy soldiers from the UK.

Btw, my most recent UK order arrived October 20th with all tariffs paid by the manufacturer.

The OP tries hard to present this as "informational", but his real agenda shows itself in the last sentence.

Why not just be happy you got $550 USD of toy soldiers to play with?

"Please note that we are talking about toy soldiers, a want and not a need to existence."

Speak for yourself.

So, 20% of value for shipping and tariff? That's a bargain. The Brit sites that I look at were charging a flat 25-40% for shipping alone.

LOL. I just bought a second hand boardgame from the US and the shipping to over here cost as much as the original item. No tariffs involved as it is well below the de minimus limit here.

Shipping from the US to UK has been ludicrous the last few in any case.

However it was a price I was willing to pay as I wanted my nice shiny thing.

Shipping between the US and UK has been expensive for a while and I know of at least one publisher that has partnered with businesses in the US and Australia to deal with it.

Tariffs are simply a flat tax on the consumer which has been a goal of certain think tanks for a while.
It hasn't worked well historically but if the goal is to simultaneously raise revenue and bring back manufacturing it runs into the issue of what happens to the revenue if the domestic source appears? The tariff revenue then decreases and you are back to filling the gap.
I would increase the top tax rates and look for some savings elsewhere.

Postage from US to Australia and from UK to Australia is horrendous. We had 10% GST added to all parcels a few years ago with the removal of a de minimus equivalent. It has made things expensive but I have no choice because the stuff I wanted doesn't exist here.

I can understand the OP annoyance; never should we expect to pay more than we are charged, but you have the beautiful tariffs now and its just the way it is. Like us having to accept the GST threshold being removed (which was all down to one greedy businessman complaining about losing business).

Look on the bright side, Baranovich. A Canadian wargamer would have been socked with provincial VAT on any import, which can be worse than 10%. I know Indiana doesn't impose its 7% sales tax on overseas imports. Does Connecticut collect its 6.35%?

kiltboy, it's a problem with any "sin tax" as well. We tax tobacco and alcohol to discourage consumption, but to the extend they do we lose tax revenue, which has to come from somewhere. The same would be true of a carbon tax. I think in this instance the hope is that if manufacturing were repatriated, lost import duties might be made up in increased income tax and diminished welfare and unemployment payments. I don't know that this will work, but palming the deficit problem off on the next administration certainly hasn't.

I was going to purchase two packs of figures from Brigade, total cost $30. USD Then saw they were going to charge $16.50 USD for shipping inside the US. That is roughly 55% of my purchase. So I didn't get the figures. Don't then them that badly.

When I see S/H fees that are 50% of the cost of my order, I try to find more stuff to buy as the S/H fees are usually fixed. I love a good excuse to buy more figures! LOL!

I'm not retired, yet. I still have spare funds for my hobby passions.

Justify it how you like, order toys or do not order toys. No one is holding a gun to your head.

We have bigger issues to deal with in our lives than bitching about the cost of hobby supplies: peace(?) in the Middle East; the 'war on drugs' went hot (after four decades!); the Russo-Ukrainian war is threatening to draw NATO into the mess; et cetera. We have far bigger fish to fry than the cost of mere toys. Cheers!

Oh, kiltboy. By all means check me, but I think you'll find the top US marginal rate is already a tad high by G8 standards. It's the US middle and upper middle classes who aren't paying European rates--and then sometimes carp about all the "free" stuff the Euros get.

Truth is, it's easy to tax someone making a good wage. That wage shows up on payrolls, and he can't leave the country to avoid the tax while keeping his income. It's a lot harder to even sort out how much the mega-rich made, let alone where they made it--and much easier for them to move. I suspect simplfying the tax code would pay off much better. A tax code the size of a decent law library is made for people who have accountants on their payroll and lawyers on retainer.If someone found a way to reduce Bill Gates' tax bill by one tenth of one percent, he can pay the guy a year's wages and come out ahead. If someone found a way to trim my taxes one tenth of one percent, I couldn't afford to buy him lunch. A lot of our tax code works like that. The breaks are open to everyone, but at the lower levels, they aren't worth the paperwork.

And on the positve side, Sgt Slag, we now have whole new scenarios for all that late Cold War armor.

Here is a easy to understand explanation of the tariffs and the results so far:
link

Hi Robert as far as 'sin tax" there is a cost of those sins down the line as far as treatment for poor health outcomes or increased policing costs i.e. see the UK when the pubs kickout and the costs to the NHS form drunk brawling etc.

There's a few things that can be done to the tax code for sure and I'm not sure comparing to Europe is going to help given the much larger US expenditures. The capital gains could be adjusted to increase revenue from the incomes of Warren Buffet et al and changing loopholes and deferred compensation from stock options would also help.

It also doesn't need to be forever but until the debt gets reduced to a level that doesn't require large amounts of the tax receipts to go on interest to the debt.

Oh I meant to add as well that US citizens are taxed worldwide so yes they can move but their tax debt still goes with them. Unless of course they renounce their citizenship in which case they pay a one time tax bill on all current assets. Not quite a case of keep the rich happy or they leave.

The shipping charges from Brigade seem a bit high for only two packs unless they contained a lot of figures in each.

If your two packs of figures plus box and packing was <1 pound, it would be $13.00 USD USPS Priority. Between 1 and 2 pounds, it would be $15.75 USD.

USPS Ground Advantage would be roughly $3.00 USD less than the above.

Those are retail prices. I'm sure they pay a discounted rate if they are paying and printing the shipping labels online.

Like us having to accept the GST threshold being removed (which was all down to one greedy businessman complaining about losing business).

If Mr N's prices weren't so high then he needn't have worried about people buying from overseas (that was before P&P from the US, Europe and UK went through the roof). It's also a pity that our pollies are so easily "persuaded" by business interests, Korsun.

As for P&P costs- which aren't that bad, considering the size of the order- and tariffs, they seem to be SOP from now on. I wouldn't mind too much if the revenue that governments collect was being used for real purposes (eg health, education , defence, etc), and not just frittered away trying to buy votes/please lobbyists/disappeared into budget oblivion.

Each bag had only five figures in it. So, ten figures total.

That being the case I'd say you were being overcharged or they build in a handling fee to offset the pick/pack labor cost.

If its shipped USPS Priority the boxes are free, so no cost there. If shipping Ground Advantage its roughly $1 USD for a box the size needed to ship that order.

@stonemountainminis

The essay's triumphal tone suggests that the mere collection of vast sums by the Treasury transmutes illegality into virtue, as though constitutional limits were a matter of quarterly performance. One detects, beneath the bluster about "boom," a primitive syllogism: because the tariff yields money, it must be wise; because markets have not collapsed, it must be just. This is the economic equivalent of applauding the burglar who stimulates local commerce by spending his loot.

The author, Congressman Mike Garcia, confuses the Treasury's intake with national strength and legality with inconvenience — an error that would embarrass even the average high-school debater.

The Constitution does not grant presidents the power to levy taxes by whim, and no surplus, however glittering, can sanctify a usurpation. That the author mistakes expedience for vindication only proves how far our discourse has wandered from first principles — that legality precedes prosperity, not the other way around.