UPS reportedly destroying packages due to customs confusion — thousands of parcels per day are seemingly affected by delays due to documentation issues

The removal of the de minimis exemption and the differing tariff rules on various nations have led to confusion in customs documentation and clearances. Because of this, some e-commerce stores have imposed exorbitant delivery fees to deter American customers. However, those who have continued to ship to the U.S. are now facing a new challenge: thousands of packages have been getting stuck in UPS hubs across the United States, as reported by NBC News.

The primary reason for these delays is the missing information, according to the company. “Because of changes to U.S. 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 company told NBC. Unfortunately, UPS cannot hold packages in limbo indefinitely. It said that it attempts to contact the shippers three times to complete the data that U.S. customs requires. If the company is unable to reach the shipper, it’s left with two choices.

“First, the package can be returned to the original shipper at their expense. Second, if the customer does not respond and the package cannot be cleared for delivery, disposing of the shipment is in compliance with U.S. customs regulations,” the company said. “We continue to work to bridge the gap of understanding tied to the new requirements, and, as always, remain committed to serving our customers.”

However, all this confusion has already started to affect customers. There have already been multiple instances of items getting disposed of after failing to clear customs. Conflicting notifications compound this: one customer reported that their package was destroyed by UPS as per customs guidelines after failing clearance, only to receive a message three days later stating that their item is on the way. However, a day after that, they received another update stating the same message: that their item had not cleared customs and was discarded.

In its 2023 annual report, UPS stated that it handled 3.2 million international shipments daily. While it claims to clear more than 90% of the packages it handles on the first day through customs, that means the remaining 10% encounter some issue. This is potentially a huge number given the scale of its operation, amounting to thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of delayed items.

There haven’t been widespread reports of this issue from customers of other shipping services, such as FedEx and DHL, so we’re unsure whether it is an issue with customs or with the company. However, all this kerfuffle will definitely be a problem for customers who paid for an item, only to have it destroyed at the border because of documentation issues.

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