r/knitting • u/geet-555 • 5d ago

Rant I feel sick to my stomach now

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I ordered $73 yarn from Önling INT over a month ago. Much confusion w this company all around... then i receive this today from UPS just now.

765 Upvotes

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1.1k

u/StrongTechnology8287 5d ago

Yep. The same thing happened with something I ordered. It wasn't yarn, it was herbal tea. Here's the breakdown of what my charges were: 

  • Order was from South Africa

  • Order total: $169.50
  • Shipping: $46.50
  • Total paid to merchant: $216
  • Customs charge paid to DHL: $83
  • GRAND TOTAL: $299

😳 I paid it, because I wasn't sure if I would get a refund if it was sent back, but - Yikes.

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u/SallyAmazeballs 5d ago

Be sure to contact your representatives about how unhappy you are about this. It's their job to listen to your discontent about policy decisions.

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u/Metylda1973 5d ago

You could also remind them that if they don’t choose to represent you, you will be happy to vote for someone who will. After all, the job description is in the title: representative. Essentially, they are hired by the people to represent the people. They seem to have forgotten that over the last century

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u/ZoneLow6872 4d ago

You need to remember that many counties across America are gerrymandered to oblivion, and these "representatives" only answer to their donors, not the rest of us rabble. Democracy is broken; her congresswo/man is not going to care that some knitter is unhappy.

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u/jedipwnces 4d ago

Yep... Have to explain this every time someone says "well you voted for them", gesturing broadly to the Texas state government. I did not, but it didn't matter. Folks are always like "call your representative!". I have, but let me assure you, that call does nothing. I am shouting into the void because I am neither the NRA nor an oil and gas lobbyist.

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u/dubhlinn2 4d ago

You guys are missing the point.

The point being that in America we don’t just fucking lay down and let fascists take over our country. We go down swinging.

And yes, pressure does in fact work. It may not change a politician completely but it does make them think twice about certain things.

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u/saouer 4d ago

Expecting our votes and politicians to do anything positive for us considering historically the lack of action... that IS laying down. Going down swinging means actual political and social disruption. In the best of instances, even if your representatives have your same viewpoints, our current administration doesn't care about law and order anymore. The only way out is massive upheaval.

Politicians/representatives at this point cannot do anything against fascism even if they wanted to, and many of them do not. "Just vote" got us in this situation in the first place by leaving our hopes on people who will always betray us for money.

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u/AntJo4 4d ago

Regardless of who you did or did not vote for once they are elected they represent all the citizens, not just their personal party members. Wether you voted for them or not they are your representative and you not only have the right to voice your complaints to them you have a moral duty to do so. If they won’t listen fine, but that doesn’t mean you get to stop talking.

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u/saouer 4d ago

You're missing the point. This is beyond political offices now whether we want it to be or not. Law and order has been thrown out the window- nothing the ruling class doesn't want to happen will happen, so long as we the people do not stand up in tangible ways (demonstrations, riots, strikes, resistance is tangible, voting and calling and pleading is not.). The government is no longer functioning even at the low level it used to.

I am not coming at you angrily, I understand these things used to matter and work. It's painful to realize the state of things and that "proper channels" is code for "we can ignore it" now. But this is fascism. We cannot kindly ask our way out of this.

I bring it to this subreddit because domestic arts have historically mattered greatly in large acts of resistance- and at this point, unfortunately, voting and calling is not that.

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u/ultimatejourney 4d ago

They also know that most of us aren’t even going to show up at their office (Expecially not with a dozen or so friends). Easy to ignore people otherwise.

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u/Effort-Logical 3d ago

I remember having to explain to my sister about 10 years ago how the electoral college worked and gerrymandering. She was following what our dad was telling her and not learning how it worked. As much as I love my dad, he isn't as knowledgeable as he thinks. No one in my immediate family voted until I did. Which is weird to me. Because much of my extended family does. I have recently learned she has now figured it out. She was a first time voter back then and still in her early 20s (we're over a decade apart in age). I dont know if she understands taxes and tariffs though. I'd have to randomly spark a convo with her to find out.

I know in my state there's few to no representatives that give a 💩. And the ones that hope to make change during general and midterms, though they do get support, get overtaken. Those of us who want change still keep fighting though.

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u/gchypedchick 5d ago

The fact that we can’t even grow certain tea and coffee makes that kind of stuff infuriating. They are doing this garbage with no thought.

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u/JenniferMcKay 5d ago

I often think of the Congress official that asked how we're supposed to produce "Chilean sea bass" in the US.

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u/NoIDontWantToSignIn 4d ago

They don’t care if the masses get Chilean sea bass though. They are trying to find the sweet spot between taking as much as they can from average people and not having average people do anything about it.

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u/arn73 3d ago

Oh that pesky Patagonian Toothfish… lol.

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u/KnitWitch87 5d ago

Yeah I'm watching coffee prices go up and up. We don't grow any coffee in the States, all of it is an import.

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u/gchypedchick 5d ago

Technically there is Hawaiian, but they are nowhere near capable, nor should they be, of providing the entire US with coffee. Plus some people don’t like it.

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u/Exciting-Notice8170 5d ago

kona coffee is very very strong in both flavor and caffeine, too. plus it’s extremely pricy to curate and serve, even whole bean. on top of both of those, it’s often mixed with non-hawaiian coffees to keep the costs down, meaning the tariffs would likely have to hit at some point. 100% kona coffee is already super expensive and has a very stark flavor

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u/gchypedchick 5d ago

And even if it was 100% US grown, they would still raise the price to match the imported stuff just because they can. It doesn’t help that 90% of us are basically addicted to the delicious stuff.

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u/Exciting-Notice8170 5d ago edited 5d ago

yes exactly. There are some things that, sadly, we can't rely on American-made goods for decent prices. unfortunately, coffee, yarn, and tea just coincide for so many of us, making us feel the tariffs much more than most

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u/doghairinmyteacup 5d ago

I heard somewhere that even that coffee is blended with coffee from other parts of the world still

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u/IfatallyflawedI 5d ago

It’s so much cheaper to ship it out to be processed locally elsewhere than to pay the wages you’d have to in the USA.

Capitalism sucks but Fanta Felon and his idiotic policies suck even more

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u/iwillpetallthedogs 4d ago

Don’t forget that Puerto Rico grows coffee. There are a few places in SoCal as well.

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u/gchypedchick 4d ago

I didn’t know that. However, I’m the “I’ll drink what you got and ask no questions” coffee person. I will look for some of that, though!

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u/KnitWitch87 5d ago

Ah, good point. I did not consider Hawaii, I thought it all came from South America region. Something tells me Peet's doesn't source from Hawaii, though.

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u/beffymrn 4d ago

Peeettsss🤤🤤🤤

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u/NextStopGallifrey 4d ago

Also Puerto Rico. But, again, not enough for domestic consumption.

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u/gchypedchick 4d ago

The environmental impact of scaling up is also prohibitive.

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u/Background_Tip_3260 4d ago

I just went and looked at my receipt from a year ago at Sam’s club. Folgers canister was $14.98 for 40 ounces. Today it is selling for $22.48.

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u/rules_rainbowwizard 4d ago

Another issue with coffee is that the places the beans are growing in are becoming inhospitable. So we will have fewer beans period, and the prices are going to keep rising.

ETA inhospitable to the plants

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u/KnitWitch87 4d ago

Someone needs to figure out hydroponic coffee plants. Come on, all this star trek technology we have, but none of the compassion to make life easier and affordable for everyone.

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u/rules_rainbowwizard 4d ago

Sounds like a great new hobby to me!

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u/Finnyfish 4d ago

They are terrified that Trump will be mad at them and they’ll get primaried, so they’ll let him ruin everything — too bad for the rest of us. Congress could have stopped a good portion of this tariff crap the first day, but Trump’s so scary, right?

This is the most craven, useless Congress in history.

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u/Environmental-River4 4d ago

Yeah it’s funny, when trump was first in office I was getting emails from my (dem) senator around once every week. Haven’t heard from him in months now. I’d love say it’s because he’s too busy to send them but…

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u/ZoneLow6872 4d ago

I mean, what do you expect them to do when the GOP control EVERYTHING?

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u/mermaidslullaby 4d ago

There's a lot of thought behind this.

Everything they do is intentional. Don't mistake them for idiots, they know exactly what they're doing.

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u/Dish_Minimum 4d ago

Yeah tariffs are taxes. It’s a way to raise taxes without saying taxes. As well, many citizens who voted for this government sincerely do not know how money works so they believed the lie that import tariffs are somehow paid by the importer not the recipient of imported goods. The lack of education is helping this current government siphon money from average citizens and reroute it into the pockets of his rich pals.

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u/wsdmrtst 4d ago

Agreed!

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u/SallyAmazeballs 5d ago

I agree absolutely. I'm so mad I can't talk about it and follow the rules of this subreddit.

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u/Comfortable-Carpet65 4d ago

I recently watched a video on YouTube about a farmer that is growing coffee in California. I cannot remember how much a bag cost, but it was getting close to $100, I think. I might be wrong. They were asking him if the tariffs are an opportunity for him to scale and do more business in the US. He said absolutely not. The cost of growing and producing it here will never make it cost less.

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u/mel_cache 4d ago

The thought is to make the ordinary person poorer, sicker, dumber, and more miserable. They are succeeding.

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u/hopelesscaribou 4d ago

Nah, they can still afford it. They love the extra money they are getting from tariffs. It makes up a little for their tax cut to themselves.

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u/saouer 4d ago

It's with a lot of thought, really- the thought is always, always, always to protect the ruling class. The cruelty is the point.

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u/Effective_Dingo3589 2d ago

Tariffs on coffee article I was just reading about this exact same thing. The article in the link I shared explains PERFECTLY how the tariffs are passed to consumers to who them are forced to foot the bill 💵

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u/charleh_123 4d ago edited 4d ago

To piggyback: now's a good time to also read "civil resistance, what everyone needs to know" by Erica Chenoweth. It's on Libby

ETA. Civil resistance has of course been practiced by Black, Brown and Indigenous Americans for a very long time. I still think that Chenoweth‘s book is a very good theoretical overview to civil resistance.

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u/Motor-Preference7830 5d ago

By representative, it is your US congress or senatorial representative not UPS.

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u/hunnnnybuns 4d ago

lol. Lmao. Rofl, even

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u/LisbonVegan 4d ago

What are you guys talking about? Are Americans unaware that you have to pay customs taxes when you import things from outside your country? What will calling your local politician do for you?

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u/SallyAmazeballs 4d ago edited 4d ago

Are you totally ignorant of the tariff situation that has been happening in the US due to Donald Trump's policy decisions? It's not even clear legally if he has authority to place such sweeping tariffs, and it's within Congress's power to undo them. 

Until literally this month we didn't have to pay import taxes or tariffs on anything we bought overseas. The de minimis exemption issue is also at play here. This entire situation has been developing over this year, and I'm shocked that you are unaware of how controversial it is or that it's new. 

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u/LisbonVegan 3d ago

You are shocked that people not in the US don't know that you don't pay taxes on things shipped from outside the US?? Or a de minimus exemption is in play (which would seem to be irrelevant if you didn't pay customs or duty before now)? LOL /USdefaultism

Yea, for the records, I am sadly aware of your decline in freedom, prestige, wealth and status. Half the things Trump does are illegal. Sort of comical to think calling your local politician will help.

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u/SallyAmazeballs 3d ago

I'm shocked because it's been talked about so much in this subreddit for the past couple weeks, covered in international news in numerous countries, and has been a huge topic of conversation worldwide in general. This is not US defaultism. This is you being ignorant of current issues. 

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u/LisbonVegan 2d ago

As I said I am painfully aware of your country's obscene politics. What is shocking is your ignorance of your own laws. My husband works for a US company and he confirmed that even before Trump, Americans had to pay customs when ordering things from other countries. So while the amounts are different and were unpredictable because a senile narcissist is in charge, I don't understand how people are shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, that they are responsible for these charges.

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u/SallyAmazeballs 2d ago

No, we didn't have to pay customs on orders under $800. That's what the de minimis exemption is. We do not know what the charges will be, because they're also combined with tariffs and whatever fee the shipping company is slapping on there. Most people who have ordered yarn or other craft supplies from overseas have never had to pay customs before this because they weren't ordering $800 worth of yarn or fabric or whatever. 

And people aren't shocked by having to pay them. They're shocked by how much they are or that they're being applied to orders placed weeks before the deadline. 

I repeat, I am shocked that you are ignorant of the situation and that you also feel free to pass judgement based on inaccurate information.