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US targets trade loophole used by ecommerce groups Temu and Shein
- enb 2y ago> These shipments have increased from 140 million per year to more than 1 billion over 10 years So a decrease? Or is this saying that after 10 years its 1billion/year?
- sitharus 2y agothe latter, it's just a bit ambiguously worded. In the past 10 years shipments have increased from 140 million per year to over 1 billion per year.
- IshKebab 2y agoIt's not ambiguous unless you count "open to HN pedantry".
- meepmorp 2y agoOver the past ten years, these shipments have increased from $140 million to over $1 billion annually.
- mensetmanusman 2y agoReminds me of when it was cheaper to ship bolts from China than from across the street due to subsidies.
- cheschire 2y agohttps://archive.is/aGdbX https://archive.is/aGdbX
- elashri 2y agoDUPE [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41533003 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41533003]
- breerbgoat 2y agowhy is it that the Biden administration do these right things so freaking slowly? should have been done years ago. Just like allowing Ukraine to do certain things to defend itself. Anyways, this would be good for consumers, since Shein and Temu products found to contain high levels of toxic chemicals https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/08/14/shein-and-temu-products-found-to-contain-high-levels-of-toxic-chemicals_6715032_4.html https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/08/14/s...
- mattmaroon 2y agoWith the federal government the options are do things slowly or not at all.
- mensetmanusman 2y agoNot true during crises, eg covid related manufacturing.
- mattmaroon 2y agoAaaaaaactually…
- ziml77 2y agoI just assume that any of this cheap unbranded garbage is filled with shit that's toxic. The Chinese companies making this stuff has no reason to care. They can't be held liable for anything.
- BobbyTables2 2y agoWhy would Amazon be any different in practice? Being a US company doesn’t stop them from being filled with imitation/knock-off goods from fly by night companies.
- ziml77 2y ago
- ungreased0675 2y agoI’ve been hearing about this for years. I have to assume it’s intentionally not being changed. Qui bono?
- bruce511 2y agoThe problem with closing loopholes that are being exploited is that it can be hard to do without causing unwelcome side effects. In other words, the loophole exists for a reason. If you "close" it you may cause good in one area but harm in others. So at the very least one should move slowly to at least understand the issue properly, beyond just the obvious exploitation. For example (and since I know nothing about small parcel imports, I'll use something I'm more familiar with) there's often a knee-jerk reaction to the exploitation of IP laws (trademark, copyright, patents). Some suggest killing it all. Some favor dumping patents but keeping the rest, and so on. But any change will have "unexpected" consequences. These tools are used by businesses of all sizes and means. Killing copyright because you dont like Microsoft would equally kill things like Free Software (because it would invalidate the freedoms enforced by the GPL.) So while "immediate action" seems like a good thing at first glance, it seldom works out that way. Throwing tarrifs on imported goods protects local jobs, but equally drives up prices (aka inflation). So charitably I interpret "intentionally not neighbors changed" to "being changed intentionally, with care to achieve the desired effect not some unwelcome side effect.
- Arnt 2y agoThis "loophole" is likely to be motivated be the cost of processing small transactions. If customs officers spend two minutes per parcel, then it makes sense to exempt parcels for which the expected revenue doesn't even cover one minute's labour cost. Where I live, parcels with an expected revenue below the price of a cup of espresso are exempt. The definition is different, of course.
- roenxi 2y ago> Killing copyright because you dont like Microsoft would equally kill things like Free Software (because it would invalidate the freedoms enforced by the GPL.) The point is a good one but the example was chosen a little quickly. It'd kill the GPL because the GPL is part of copyright law. That much is simple to see. But it'd probably be a net win for user freedom. Right now, people choose to use free software either because it is good (and would see no difference if the GPL disappeared) or because it is free (and, again, would make decisions the same way in a no-IP world - only use software where the source is available). So the only risk is people copying an OSS project as free riders, withholding source changes and using some sort of embrace-extend-extinguish strategy. But EEE relies on proprietary extensions, so that strategy probably doesn't work without the support of IP law. The OS projects could clone features back in. Proprietary providers could fight back with a client server model - but AWS for example already does that so it isn't really new and the equilibrium is generally to contribute upstream anyway. I would expect software freedoms to improve if we lost the GPL as part of a big removal of IP laws. There'd be tactical instances where people were worse off, maybe. But strategically the OSS community would just be in a better position. They can keep doing what they do, it is harder to sue them and difficult to profit off their work in ways that aren't already possible.
- Scoundreller 2y ago> Officials said the vast number of parcels made it harder to block shipments of faulty products and illegal drugs like fentanyl. I don’t believe for a second that their fentanyl interceptions will sufficiently improve otherwise. The reality is that the margin is so strong, other methods (if small individual parcels were even a factor) would fill any gap. Even more interceptions would just lead to more shipments. That’s how good the margins are.
- wslh 2y agoI'm not saying this is necessarily accurate, but could it be inferred from the article that this loophole might act like a Denial of Service (DoS) attack on the mail inspection system? Similar to the overwhelming number of security log entries that no one reads?
- g9yuayon 2y agoDo US schools and media educate the public that taking drugs is dangerous, ruinous, self destructive, and shameful. I understand that the US in general favors personal freedom, but shouldn't there be some universal values, like don't take drugs?
- Gud 2y agoThere is nothing shameful about drug usage. It’s a part of being human. What people who face an addiction needs is help, not being shamed.
- swagasaurus-rex 2y agoI feel shame for our society every time I walk past drug addicted homeless people camped out on the sidewalk. Drugs are shameful, to the degree that they impact your life. Some of us are so oppposed to shame that we justify and defend the most self destructive habits. You should be ashamed for that.
- Gud 2y ago
- seydor 2y agoI believe temu does not make use of such loophole in europe, and is still more successful than amazon
- Ekaros 2y agoBasically my understanding is that now the seller must do the tolls/taxes before sending the package. Really hits small time sellers in places like UK, but Ali and Temu and so on are so big they can just implement it, pay taxes and still be cheaper than adding local middlemen in the mix.
- tyfon 2y agoHere in Norway, the biggest issue is that China is still officially a developing country, so the Norwegian state subsidizes the freight cost. In practice it's cheaper too send a letter or parcel from China to Norway than doing the same within Norway.
- kylehotchkiss 2y agoWasn't all this UPU stuff written before every country had their own flag airline? China has their own airlines with routes to many places that could be hauling their parcels without the subsidies
- tdeck 2y agoIt's the same in the US. If I'm in no hurry I often buy small electronic parts from China simply because the whole thing is cheaper than the cheapest shipping buying from a retailer in the US.
- SSLy 2y agoTemu dumps incredible amount of money on marketing here.
- paganel 2y agoBecause the great majority of stuff being put up for sale on Amazon comes from Shein and Temu, or some smaller Chinese lookalikes. In pure colonial style the Westerners just want a bigger cut without bringing anything new to the table.
- DanielLee5 2y agoInteresting.
- DanielLee5 2y ago[dead]