I travel a lot for work. Between airports, hotel rooms, and rental cars, I’ve learned that keeping my phone, laptop, and headset charged is a daily puzzle of tangled cables. So, a couple months ago, I did what millions of us do: I went online to buy a simple fix - some cable organizers from Amazon.
The order confirmation promised delivery in just over a week. Then came the familiar “in transit” update, followed by “delayed”, and finally “held in customs.” Weeks passed. The package never moved again. I eventually gave up checking. It wasn’t expensive, but it was telling, because this wasn’t an isolated glitch or a lost box.
What I didn’t know at the time was that my missing cable organizers had become a casualty of a new trade policy quietly reshaping how nearly every small package enters the United States. Since late August, millions of shipments that once breezed through customs have been delayed, taxed, or destroyed, thanks to President Trump’s decision to end the long-standing duty-free rule for low-value imports.
What began for me as a small personal frustration turns out to be part of a much larger story, one affecting online shoppers, small businesses, and global supply chains alike.
On July 30, 2025, the Trump administration announced the permanent suspension of the “de minimis” tariff exemption, which had allowed goods valued under $800 to enter the U.S. without duties. Under the new order, every parcel, regardless of size or value, must undergo full customs processing starting August 29. [“US ends tariff exemption for all low-value packages,” Reuters]
This change is historic. The de minimis rule had existed in some form since 1938 and was raised to $800 in 2015 to support cross-border e-commerce. [“End of US low-value package tariff exemption is permanent,” Reuters] The new policy forces every sender and recipient to contend with customs duties, extra paperwork, and new liability.
Some shipments are now caught in a strange twilight zone. NBC News reported that one U.K. package shifted in tracking status from “failed to clear customs” to “disposed,” then to “in transit,” and then disappeared altogether. Others have seen their parcels marked “destroyed,” later “in transit,” and finally lost.
A case in point: an Oregon small business shipped five packages of Japanese tea worth over $127,000. Some got stuck at a UPS hub. UPS emails alternated between declaring the goods destroyed and claiming that they had cleared. Meanwhile, customers across the U.S. report losing family keepsakes, diplomas, journals, and even an engagement ring to the customs quagmire.
UPS told NBC that while over 90% of international packages still clear customs on day one, the remaining share, though a minority, represents hundreds of thousands of parcels daily requiring extra processing. Some of those eventually clear; others are returned or destroyed.
Meanwhile, media outlets such as The Daily Beast have picked up the report that UPS is explicitly “disposing” of parcels that can’t clear customs, confirming that the practice is happening and being acknowledged internally. [“UPS Admits ‘Disposing’ of Parcels …,” Daily Beast]
This disruption is not limited to UPS. All major shipping paths: FedEx, DHL, USPS, and global postal networks have had to adjust.
- FedEx was already dealing with pressure since the de minimis rule was removed for China and Hong Kong in May 2025. The company warned that the tariff change cost it roughly $170 million in one quarter.
- DHL and similar couriers now often require recipients to prepay tariffs and brokerage fees; drivers sometimes arrive with surprise bills. If a recipient doesn’t pay immediately, the package is withheld or returned.
- Postal systems globally have been hit hardest. With no infrastructure to collect duties, many postal services suspended U.S.-bound parcel shipments. At least 25 postal systems did so around the time of the change. [“Global postal services suspend some U.S. shipments,” Reuters]
- On August 29, the day the change took effect, international postal traffic to the U.S. plummeted about 81%. [“Key Democrat blasts ‘abrupt’ end …,” Reuters]
In fact, the administration allowed foreign postal services a six-month transition period, during which they could use flat fees of $80–$200 per package while they build systems. But many opted to stop sending parcels altogether until they could adapt.
The numbers behind this are staggering. In fiscal year 2024, over 1.36 billion parcels entered under the de minimis exemption—about 3.7 million per day. [“What end of de minimis exemption means …,” Reuters] That volume represented more than 60% of U.S. import shipments in some estimates.
When the de minimis rule was removed for China, the U.S. collected $492 million in duties from May to August 2025 on parcels that otherwise would have been tax-free. [“End of US low-value package tariff exemption is permanent,” Reuters] That implies underlying parcel values in the multibillion-dollar range. With all countries now subject, annual duty revenue is expected to climb sharply, suggesting tens of billions in previously exempt goods are now taxed.
To put it in perspective: UPS processed over 3 million international parcels per day before this change. If even 5% now face complications, that’s 150,000 packages daily just at UPS. Across all carriers, the daily backlog likely numbers in the hundreds of thousands. If only a small fraction of those are destroyed, that still means thousands of parcels vanish permanently.
To many Americans, this might look like a shipping nuisance or a surprise extra bill. But for small importers, boutique sellers, or buyers of niche goods overseas, it’s a barrier to participation in global commerce. Overnight, the risk of delay, surprise costs, or total loss has increased drastically.
It’s also a test of federal capacity. U.S. Customs and Border Protection was never built to handle millions of small entries daily. The burden of compliance has shifted onto consumers and small businesses, with little transparency or recourse.
Politically, the move is sold as closing a “loophole” used to evade tariffs or smuggle contraband. But the collateral damage, lost property, disrupted trade, stifled access, is widespread. This shift quietly reshapes who can buy and sell across borders.
