Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US  

RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US

Posted by: @ssill2

@gb160
I must have had terribly bad luck then lol same problem on two different printers, a core one and an MK4s. I feel like maybe tpu is involved since I was doing some test prints in ninjaflex and chinchilla as well as sainsmart tpu to get things dialed in with the steel nozzle vs the brass one. I don't know if CF filled filament and tpu changes maybe left gunk in the nozzle, but I know it got to the point with both nozzles where I couldn't even cold pull. I have 5 more of those nozzles in the XL and I hope they aren't ticking timebombs. I have not however done any TPU in the XL since putting those nozzles in and have had no issues. I even printed some PC-CF to remake a broken pulley I had in the CoreOne upgrade process. Recalibrating the tool offset is such a pain with the XL that I'm really not looking forward to having to do it again. But if it happens on the XL I'll buy 5 non-HF obxidian nozzles and be done with it. The wife likes me to print tpu things so I'll take possibly slower but more reliable printing. Fast isn't really a thing when you're printing tpu anyway lol. My ninjaflex and chinchilla profiles now tunes are 1.19 MVS lol

Think we should start another thread on HF nozzles. It’s generally not a good idea to push TPU (or other bulky) filament through a 0.4mm HF nozzle. It will definitely clog. I use a 0.6mm or 0.8mm regular nozzle for this. 

One of my Prusa packages will be delivered today via FedEx. No indication (yet) of a duty charge. 

RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US

I've only ever used DHL with the deliveries and I always get a notification before it's handed over at customs.  Hopefully this duty/tarrif stuff gets sorted out sometime soon.  I get it for something the price of a printer, but for these nozzles and other small parts it's crazy that the cost of shipping and duty are more than the cost of the product.

RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US

Just to reiterate I got my Duty charge 2 weeks after Fedex delivered the package.  I suspect they are having a hard time keeping on top of the current government chaos (which is probably even worse now that the the US government is "shut down."

RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US

yep, I've never had that happen. with dhl they always collect up front, or at least so far that's been the case.  But as you said, trying to stay in compliance with the gov disorganization has to be quite a ride.

Posted by: @johne

Just to reiterate I got my Duty charge 2 weeks after Fedex delivered the package.  I suspect they are having a hard time keeping on top of the current government chaos (which is probably even worse now that the the US government is "shut down."

RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US

Your message is both baffling and wrong.

>Still amazed that Prusa still uses such antiquated logistic practices.

Let me explain. Shipping costs money. Somebody has to pay. That somebody is always you, with no exceptions.

Prusa and FedEx are different companies. Prusa has nothing to do with the shipping, except to take your money and give it to FedEx. 

On another planet, Prusa could add $100 to every printer to cover your "free" shipping.  Wait. But then they would need create a magic website that creates different prices for every human.

Perhaps you are young (or an American) and you don't understand that things cost money. Nobody pays for you; not Prusa, not FedEx. You pay, always.

If you receive "free" shipping, you actually pay via to higher prices. You pay a higher price that includes your "free" shipping. Every company on earth works this way.

You can fix these "antiquated logistic practices". Start your own business. Buy a cargo ship, and carry packages 5,000 miles across the ocean for free. Problem solved.

This is not off-topic, because the new US tariffs work the same way.  The new Trump tariffs are a hidden tax  you now pay. Trump charges FedEx, FedEx charges Prusa, and Prusa charges you.   You pay Trump's new tariffs.

RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US

@tdk408
I agree with your post. However I think that us older Americans still understand that things cost money. Not all of us voted for the orange one. Many of us are still dumbfounded that he got in a second term. I don't mind paying taxes/tarrifs. But it's amazing when the duty for a $13 is 20 dollars. That's the kind of markup you'd see for things like alchol or cigarettes.

RE:

Posted by: @ssill2

@tdk408
I agree with your post. However I think that us older Americans still understand that things cost money. Not all of us voted for the orange one. Many of us are still dumbfounded that he got in a second term. I don't mind paying taxes/tarrifs. But it's amazing when the duty for a $13 is 20 dollars. That's the kind of markup you'd see for things like alchol or cigarettes.

Somebody has to pay for the tax cuts given to the wealthy and big business. Might as well be the middle class consumer /s

Orange Caesar aside, I've received 6 packages from Prusa via FedEx since beginning of July to California with 2 more on the way next week and I haven't received any duty invoice from FedEx as of yet. 

RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US

you must be in ceasar's inner circle 🙂   As George Carlin said, it's a big club and you ain't in it 🙂

Posted by: @hyiger  

Orange Caesar aside, I've received 6 packages from Prusa via FedEx since beginning of July to California with 2 more on the way next week and I haven't received any duty invoice from FedEx as of yet. 

RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US

Article from the Wall Street Journal:

The New Pitfall of Online Shopping: A Surprise Tariff Bill

RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US

Interesting, thanks for sharing that.   I guess dhl goes ahead and collects it up front.

RE:

I just received 2 fedex packages today from Prusa. Will report back if I get an invoice for duty. I would think though (unless they are backed up) that I would have to pay it before I received the packages. 

RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US

I'm honestly shocked that FEDEX's approach is legal. If you don't agree in advance to a payment, and don't have the opportunity to refuse the service, how can they legally issue the bill ? 

Now the CoreOne tariff bill wasn't terrible, but if, say, I had purchased a similarly priced item from China and wound up with a tariff bill for 100% of the purchase price of the product, I would have refused delivery rather than pay the $1K +, and found an alternative supplier. As it is, Fedex's billing policy doesn't allow you to do that - they release the package FIRST without telling you that there will be a charge or what the charge will be and then only issue you the bill after it is too late to refuse the package.

Suspicious.

RE:

I just received a FedEx invoice for a package I received 3 weeks ago. So it seems they are backed-up. However, I never received invoices for products purchase and received between July and Aug. Just speculating but I guess they don't have the capacity to do this in real-time and meet the delivery dates. 

RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US

So this is a bit off track but I was just on Amazon and they had some pretty good Prime Day Deals in the Prusa store.   They have the 4KS kit 30% off with free overnight shipping (and no Tariff) which is much cheaper than when I bought it early this year.

RE: Fedex Retroactive "Duty Fees" in US

Posted by: @tdk408

This is not off-topic, because the new US tariffs work the same way.  The new Trump tariffs are a hidden tax  you now pay. Trump charges FedEx, FedEx charges Prusa, and Prusa charges you.   You pay Trump's new tariffs.

Slightly wrong, but close. Trump charges FedEx for the tariff, FedEx charges the recipient for the tariff + a processing fee. Prusa never sees the tariff. (Yes, FedEx charged Prusa, but that was just the base fee for physically moving the product from Prague to the recipient.)