how much tariff are we tallking about here? Quote:
Originally Posted by stealth  It's a random hold-up, but there's some logic to it. First of all is the quantity. If it is a whole lot of the same items there is a bigger chance for a hold. Secondly, if the address is in the Western US zone with the zip codes starting with 9, 8 and 7 it is a bigger chance to be held up than the Eastern and the Middle US zones. However, needless to say that even zip starting with let say 6 (Kansas City, MO) which is supposed to fly to the Chicago O'Hare customs hub may easily be loaded on the plane to SF. That will maximize the chance of hold up, which is often leads to the customs tariffs. The customs will levy every item in the package with an entry tariffs and instruct the USPS not to release the parcel to the addressee before collecting the tariffs amount. Very often it is a two weeks customs hold, which will come with the US Customs invoice to the USPS office. (Once I got lucky - the mailman forgot to collect the tariffs from me and handed me the parcel with the customs invoice! He never came back to ask for money, but this is like winning a lottery - extremely rare). If the parcel is held up for less than two weeks - even after one week hold - it is often released free of tariffs. It's is normally a random 10% probability of tariffs levied on international non-commercial merchandise items. Chicago and NY customs hubs almost never assess tariffs. It is not necesserily a rule that once your parcel got tariffs it will always be held up and levied. Of course, it is safer to use multiple addresses, but realistically speaking - if you import a lot of **** from abroad, especially China, how many valid addresses can you have to constantly be changing them? Not too many. Get a few and alternate them sparingly, if you can. Also, if you are in the West, change the first digit of your zip to Eastern or Central US zip code to minimize the chance of it going through the Western customs hub. The USPS will re-route your package to you overnight free of charge once it clears the customs in the safe harbor of Chicago or NY and they will figure out your correct destination. Do not order loads of ****. |  | 
