International Relations Impact the Flock

A few months ago, when the administration announced sweeping tariffs, I sent out an email to all customers and newsletter subscribers committing to not passing on increasing costs. Wild Waters is a small business, and any added costs in production and shipping are hugely impactful. And despite our prices remaining the same on our website (outside of the Hello Summer sale), our customers are feeling the massive blow from the shifting economic and trade policies enacted this year.

Although kitting and finishing touches are done in Oregon, most of the manufacturing for Wild Waters is in China and Hong Kong. I've searched for US-based manufacturing partners for close to 3 years without success. One promising lead for a US-based manufacturer that was interested in working with me and advertised "made in the USA" still manufactured in China and just skimmed off the top, increasing my costs to take a cut, but still import everything from overseas. Although there are a handful of US-based companies that could make the Quackpackers, they all have extremely high minimum order volumes, and without $10-20k a week in sales, I'm not able to fund a deposit for hundreds of thousands of units of product. Even then, all raw materials end up being imported from Asian countries, like the PVC material, ink, and packaging material. Although my last large shipment arrived the week before massive tariffs went into effect, all my subsequent imports have cost 1.5-2x the expected price. I've been working with an electronics factory to create a really unique and practical night light for about 6 months, and the first 200 units are getting shipped to me this month. I just learned there will be an added $600 import charge on a $1400 shipment - and that's just the first batch. The remainder of the shipment, arriving in August, will result in $3,000+ import fees. Those added import fees will eliminate about 50% of my profit margin on those items right off the bat, making it harder to save up for invention, testing, and production.

Separately from the manufacturing costs and import tariffs into the US, my international customers are experiencing the fallout of retaliatory tariffs. Just last week, a Canadian customer emailed me to ask why the import costs were 50% of the cost of her shipment, and a Australian customer messaged me about 40% import duties on his order. I'm working on creating an information flow during checkout to alert my international customers to alert them of potential duties during the delivery process. Unfortunately, this doesn't help the fact that my international customers are paying well over their anticipated order cost to receive their product, and that wouldn't be (as much) the case had the current US administration thoroughly imploded trade relations across the world. To my international customers, please know that I'm so sorry you're having to pay additional monies to receive your package from customs, and none of that money goes to me. I also am not yet sure how to calculate the duties across different countries to estimate the cost at checkout, but I'm researching how I might be able to setup a "before you buy, know this might require you to pay $$ to get it out of customs" message so customers can make an educated decision on whether they'd like to proceed with ordering.

All this is to say:

First off, thank you for supporting my small business. I'm going to keep trying to get my flock out into the wild across the world because I truly believe Quackpackers are useful and practical little inflatables, and I'm going to try to keep doing so at affordable prices. Second, if you're planning on ordering and you're outside the US, please be aware you will likely be required to pay the carrier to receive your package once it enters your country. Third, recognize that political change must occur to save US-based small businesses, and advocate for change if you have the bandwidth.

I know I'm not the only small business in the US that's experiencing hardships and having to make tough decisions due to unstable and unsustainable economic policies enacted since the election. We're in this together, and if there's anything Wild Waters or I can do to help, please let me know.