WHAT GRINDS OUR GEARS: International duties are the worst surprises ever

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Image courtesy of Air Cargo News

Written by: Eva Zhu, Opinions Editor

Online shopping is like receiving a Christmas present, except you bought it yourself. You get to obsessively track your package the minute the “your item has been shipped” email arrives in your inbox. Who doesn’t love clicking the refresh button 1,358,506 times a day?

You know what I don’t love though? International duty fees. I get that countries want their people to buy domestic products, but don’t charge me my firstborn child because I don’t believe in nationalism.

I’m not here to pay another $50 on international duties to a money hungry DHL when I’ve already spent hundreds of dollars on a new bag. Do I look like I have a never-emptying bank account? The worst part of all of this is when my predictions end up being wholly wrong and the actual amount of the duty hits me like a delivery van. Instead of begrudgingly paying the $10, I have to accept the fact that I’m probably not going to eat for the next 17 days while I type in my credit card number slower than my Grandpa walks.

In conclusion, while I appreciate shipping companies for delivering my stuff in record time, can they be nice for once and not be the reason I eat Mr. Noodle for two weeks straight?

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