I Ship With UPS, but the Delays and Tariffs Have Made Me Switch

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kunal Sharma, the owner of E6 Carbon and E6 Forged, two auto-parts companies in Ontario, Canada. He described issues he’s experienced shipping items through UPS to customers in the US.

A UPS spokesperson declined to provide comment specifically on Sharma’s experience. The company previously told Business Insider that, “Because of changes to US import regulations, we are seeing many packages that are unable to clear customs due to missing or incomplete information about the shipment required for customs clearance.” The spokesperson said “more than 90% of all imported packages” that move through UPS’s network clear customs the first day that they arrive in the US.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I’m a small-business owner in Canada, and I’ve lost money shipping through UPS.

I own a wheel company called E6 Forged. We import and sell wheels from Taiwan. We deal with a lot of high-end cars — Ferraris, Lamborghinis, McLarens, and so on. I also own another company called E6 Carbon, which fabricates auto parts domestically and internationally. We also repair some parts.

My No. 1 customer base is in the US, by a large margin. I spend easily over 150,000 Canadian dollars shipping into the US every single year. This year, for better or worse, has been very transformative for shipping.

We started seeing tariffs on our US shipments after “Liberation Day” this spring. It wasn’t the end of the world, since the baseline tariff was between 10% and 15%.

What really exacerbated the issue was in August, when the de minimis change for items under $800 happened. Previously, those items didn’t have to go through the entire customs clearance process. Now, all of a sudden, there are all these cheap items that have to go through the formal declaration process to get into the US.

After that change, we started having problems with UPS.

In some cases, UPS charged the wrong tariff rates on my shipments — often more than they should. You might clear it properly, do everything correctly, and then it arrives at your customer’s house, and there’s a massive tariff bill, which they’re going to turn away.

Customers get mad when they get unexpected tariff bills. One of mine got a bill for $1,000 from UPS for tariffs and fees. He was like, “Kunal, what the hell are you doing? You sent me a bill for $1,000.” I didn’t send him that.

I’ve had shipments go to the US but get stuck at UPS facilities without explanation. Before, UPS would reach out when there was a problem with customs and ask me for more information about the shipment. That’s not happening now.

One package that I shipped to a customer in Alabama was supposed to be delivered within four days. Instead, it came back to me a week later with no notification. I had filled out all the customs information correctly, including the tariff code.

Another package has been missing for over a month now. According to the tracking number, it’s teleporting between Ontario, Michigan, and Tennessee. At one point, the tracking information said that UPS was going to dispose of it. Then, I sent messages to Carol Tomé, the CEO of UPS. I got a response from the CEO’s office apologizing, and all of a sudden, it was saved from destruction.

I’m now using FedEx for US shipments

I ship with a variety of carriers. Normally, it depends on who offers the best rates. I ship with UPS, I have shipped with DHL, I’ve shipped with Purolator, and I’ve shipped with FedEx. I have only had these issues shipping to the US with UPS.

Now, though, I’ve switched shipping items that need to get to the US with FedEx. FedEx might be more expensive in some cases, but there’s way less of a risk of it being bounced back to me or lost. The extra $7 seems rather inconsequential in that case.

Many of our suppliers in other parts of the world, such as Japan, have stopped shipping to the US entirely. Some have sold their products to us at a discount so that we can pay for the extra cost of the tariffs and shipping to the US.

I guess that’s by design, though, right? It seems like the current administration doesn’t want stuff to be imported to the US. They want the US to be a self-sustaining country that imports far less.

If the US wants to go down that road, it’s doing a good job. But it’s coming at the cost of a lot of regular people like me. I’m a small fish in a very large ocean. I might be more like plankton in an ocean, to be honest.

Do you have a story to share about UPS or tariffs? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com or 808-854-4501.