New York
CNN
—
If you have an upcoming deadline for a package delivery — even if it’s several weeks away — you may want to consider placing your order as soon as possible.
That’s because in this new age of on-again, off-again tariffs, there’s no saying when your package will be delivered — if at all.
I learned this the hard way.
I was sure a jewelry gift I ordered online on February 2 that I needed to be delivered to a friend by February 13 would arrive by then, given it was the last possible estimated delivery date. But, as of the time of writing, it has yet to be delivered, despite the company’s initial 6-9 business day delivery estimate.
It turns out my timing was horrendously bad. The day my order arrived in the US, February 4, was the very day President Donald Trump’s new 10% tariff on imported goods from China took effect, impacting goods worth less than $800, which previously were exempt from tariffs.
That meant that my order, along with many, many others coming from China, had to undergo a more rigorous inspection with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Additionally, to comply with the new laws, the US Postal Service briefly stopped delivering packages from China.
After chaos and confusion ensued, the Trump administration paused the so-called de minimis provision on February 7, allowing shipments worth less than $800 to come to the US tariff-free again — at least until until “adequate systems are in place” for the Commerce Department “to fully and expediently process and collect tariff revenue,” according to the executive order Trump signed.
It’s a small taste of the headaches that Americans could experience as Trump mulls more tariffs to “get even” with other countries. White House officials said last week that the administration would be levying reciprocal taxes as soon as April 2. Additionally, a 25% tariff across all goods coming from Mexico and Canada could go into effect on March 4.
Ultimately, the administration’s temporary U-turn on the de minimis exemptions may have come too late for me. The company I had ordered from informed me on February 10 that my package was still being held at customs “due to unexpected US customs delays following the recently enacted trade laws and tariffs.” (The company declined to comment to CNN.)
My experience is hardly unique. The tariff chaos ensnared Americans across the country, from online shoppers like me to a Broadway show waiting on a shipment of yellow LED lights from China for its marquee sign, Trump’s tariff changes are leaving many people frustrated, with little information on when their orders will arrive.
Longer delivery times and customs processing delays
“The performances have not been affected, but this is the first time in memory that a Broadway marquee has not been illuminated for a show’s first performance,” said Rick Miramontez, spokesperson for Operation Mincemeat. Even without the lights, which exceeded the $800 exemption and therefore are subject to tariffs, the show debuted its preview performance in New York over the weekend.
The bulbs, which have not left China, aren’t expected to arrive until next month. The advertising agency for the show was informed that the delay is a direct result of tariffs, Miramontez told CNN.
Meanwhile, Heidi Newberg bought two shirts from Chinese-based site Yiume on February 1 and received an email that the order shipped on February 5. But when she checked the tracking information on February 11, it just said “label created.”
When she reached out to the company for more information, she was told that “the US President announced the imposition of tariffs on international goods, revoking the previous tariff-free policy. This led to temporary delays as FedEx worked to prepare the required documentation,” according to an email exchange she had, which she shared with CNN. (Yiume did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.)
“To me, the thing with tariffs is it’s topsy-turvy. You order something and don’t know: Am I going to get it?” said Newberg, a physics and astronomy professor based in Albany, New York. She received the package on February 13, two days after her husband’s birthday, for which she bought the shirts.
One site, LTTStore.com, a marketplace owned by Linus Media Group, which operates the popular YouTube channel, Linus Tech Tips, is informing customers that any shipments to destinations outside of Canada may be “currently on temporary hold, with no known ship date at this time,” according to a notice posted on February 10. “This is due to newly announced US tariffs which affect LTTStore products,” the notice stated.
The company then said in a separate post last week that “due to significant demand brought on by recent & evolving changes to US tariffs, customer support reply times from our human agents are currently delayed.” As of writing, the estimated customer support wait time is 10 business days. (The company didn’t respond to CNN.)
While some users on the Reddit page LinusTechTips have posted that they’ve received their orders, several users said that theirs have yet to be delivered, though it’s unclear when they were placed.
Cynthia Mulcahy, a Dallas-based artist who has a series of projects inspired by the history of abortions and contraception, believes the new tariffs contributed to a longer-than-anticipated delivery of hibiscus seeds she needed for a piece she’s working on.
Mulcahy placed an order for 600 black hibiscus seeds costing $12.41 through a China-based seller on eBay on January 22. The shipment arrived in a US-based port on February 4, according to tracking information she shared with CNN. However, it didn’t leave the port for another five days. Ultimately, she received the package on February 12. Meanwhile, an identical order from the same seller in December took nine days to reach her doorstep.
Frustrated at the lack of progress getting her seeds when they were stuck at a port, “I thought, wow, this really is caught up with these tariffs,” she told CNN. However, she never received outright confirmation that tariffs were behind the delay.
The experience has forced her to reconsider ordering goods coming from China, she said.
CBP didn’t respond to CNN’s request for comment regarding whether new tariffs are holding up goods, especially those coming from China, at ports.
Sharon Fowler, a retiree based in the San Francisco Bay area, considers herself an avid shopper on discount Chinese e-commerce sites. Normally she’s found herself impressed with how quickly her orders arrive. But now, several recent orders she’s made on Temu and AliExpress consisting of items like costume jewelry, handbags and phone accessories that arrived in the US earlier this month have been stuck at customs facilities since February 8. “There’s not been an update since.”
Temu sent her a message informing her that “due to customs policy changes, the delivery of your package and delay compensation will be postponed by 12 days.” Temu as well as AliExpress’ parent company didn’t respond to CNN.
Some of the goods Fowler purchased from the two sites that arrived in the US after the de minimus exemption was reinstated have been delivered, she said.
Fowler said she isn’t a fan of tariffs, but she didn’t think she’d feel such a direct impact. She came to the realization that the 10% tariffs Trump imposed on goods coming from China aren’t really the problem for her. “The problem is the de minimis under $800” and how it would impact “every little thing” she orders.
‘That’s on your country’s end’
Garrett Rassulo, a Mulberry, Massachusetts resident, told CNN he only just received an update on his AliExpress purchase, including a flashlight, screwdriver set and car accessories, on February 17 after it had been stuck in New York for customs processing since February 6 without any further details.
He purposefully said he made the purchases when he found out about the tariffs Trump was set to impose on Chinese goods. “I was like, ‘I better order these now, or I’m not going to be able to order them because they’ll be too expensive,’” he said.
“I was starting to think that maybe (customs) had rejected it or something. But usually when that happens, it would say, ‘Customs clearance failed,’ but it didn’t say that,” Rassulo said. When he contacted the AliExpress sellers based in China, he was essentially told, “We’re sorry but that’s on your country’s end; it already arrived there.” He even tried getting in touch with customs but couldn’t find a proper point of contact.
His order was finally delivered on February 19.
He says he’ll give AliExpress “one more try,” and if he encounters the same problems, he plans to make future purchases from US-based companies.