Postal traffic to US still down 70% five weeks after duties exemption on low-value packages ended

Postal traffic to the U.S. remains down about 70% five weeks after the end of the “de minimis” exemption

Postal traffic is to the U.S. is still down about 70% five weeks after the end of the “de minimis” exemption that spared low-value packages from duties and packages, the United Nations postal agency said Friday.

Confusion has reigned since the U.S. ended the tariff exemption for packages worth less than $800 on Aug. 29. In September, the Universal Postal Union reported 88 of its 192 member countries had suspended all or some of its postal services to the U.S. to have time to adjust their shipping procedures.

On Friday, the UPU said “only a handful” of those had resumed operations to the U.S.

The organization said traffic to the U.S. on Oct. 3 was down 70.7% compared with volume one week before the regulatory changes. On Aug. 29, when the exemption ended, volume plummeted 81% from a week earlier.

Bern, Switzerland-based UPU said it is rolling out