A small Wellington business is fearing for its future after NZ Post suspended shipping to the United States due to tariffs.
South Pacific Berets describes itself as the most specialised beret shop in the world, serving Basque beret enthusiasts globally.
“Most of my customers, about 90%, live in the US,” owner Daan Kolthoff said.
“I import berets from a number of countries: France, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Argentina, they come to New Zealand and from here they go to customers all over the world. There are very little [customers] in New Zealand, by far the most are US customers.”
Kolthoff said the suspension came without warning.
“I found out yesterday trying to send parcels to the US via [NZ Post’s] eShip system, but I wasn’t able to,” he explained.
“I sent them a message, expecting some fault with the website, but I haven’t heard back from them. Then later on I read online an article that shipments to the US had been suspended.”
He would now spend his weekend processing refunds, a difficult prospect for such a niche business.
“It’s very painful. I have to contact them and refund their money, because I have no idea how long this will take or what sort of increase in cost there will be,” he said.
“I have to cancel a number of orders and make an announcement on the website that US customers for the time being can’t place orders with me. It’s quite bad for my business.”
Kolthoff said the lack of communication from NZ Post was concerning.
“I look forward to knowing more and being able to inform my customers, and to know where I stand because I can see a worst case scenario of my business coming to an end.”
In a statement to RNZ, NZ Post said it was responding “with agility” to make the necessary changes to resume shipping.
“Guidance from US Customs & Border Protection was only recently issued and requires a number of changes for both businesses and NZ Post, including updates to shipment data, duty and tax payments, and how goods are processed for entry into the US,” a spokesperson said.
“We’ve been advised by our main airline partners that due to these new rules they have made the decision they will not be carrying mail items subject to this tariff.”
NZ Post said it would continue to provide updates on its website.
Earlier, on its website, NZ Post said there were some restrictions on what could be sent to the US and US territories. This included suspending a number of services temporarily “until further notice”, while formal processes around the new US tariffs were being finalised.
The suspended services included sending with economy, economy tracked, economy plus, courier and express. Letters sent via economy letters and documents sent via express were the only services still available.
NZ Post said it expected the suspension would be short term but could not give customers an exact date.
rnz.co.nz
