Since the introduction of tariffs, Japan post has ceased shipping to the USA. We are hopeful that they will
resume shipment at some stage, but for the moment, they will not ship commercial items. So the only
somewhat affordable option is Fedex. The duty rate for Japan is 15%, but we are getting slapped with
a host of other fees. Fedex added a $6 processing fee/order for tariffs, then there is a storage fees if for any reason
an item is delayed, lastly there are a bunch of fees for processing, which we do not understand and seem randomly applied.
Fedex also mandates that the shipper cover all costs, even though they cannot tell us what those costs will be. It is frankly, a nightmare for any business.

For  businesses, dealing with the USA, there are only really three options:

• Wear the tariffs ( assuming your profit margin are large enough ),
• Pass the tariffs on to customers at checkout,
• Increase your prices across the board ( you cannot increase prices country specific, as it just creates
  annoyance for the customers from that country ).

For Eastern Beaver, where many prices have not been increased in 10yrs and the operating profit is small, we
cannot “wear” the tariffs. So we only have two options, pass on the tariffs or increase our prices across the board.
The latter would increase prices for all countries, which is somewhat unfair for those outside the USA. So for the
moment, we are charging tariffs at checkout.

We hope, down the road, that things will change for the better. The current situation is bordering on unworkable,
as business does not know what they will be charged for shipping. We might charge $22 for shipping & receive a bill
from Fedex, one month later and on the same order, for $55 ( has happened too many times ). We “wear” that extra costs when this happens.

This post is just to explain the current situation, from our business perspective. We don’t like extra costs, nor
passing them on to customers, so hope this goes some way in explaining.