Freight Penalty USA

Why is there a freight penalty for USA?

The standard practice for our global (non-Australian) customers has been to assemble our Gentle Roller in China, store at our Chinese warehouse, and air-freight from China to the world (ex Aust).  This is the cheapest way to reach a global market, and these costs are built iinto the current base price for all countries except Australia.

For Australian customers, we assemble in Australia (at the exact same cost as assembling in China as it is completed by exactly the same people), we store in Australia and road-transport domestically at 1/2 the cost of air-freight from China.  That is the cheapest business model for our Aust customers.  

We tested, for over 12 months, assembly, storage and shipping in the USA for USA customers, but each layer of cost (assembly, storage and shipping) were more expensive than any alternative.  In fact, we can air-freight from China to any home in the USA quicker and cheaper than transporting locally from say, LA to Kansas, or Wisconsin to Florida.  

So, USA customers have for 5 years been supplied ex China as our lowest cost option.

Now Donald Trump has added 145% consumer tax (import tariff) on arrival for all goods shipped from China making the USA business model unsustainable.  Our fall-back is to use our Australian stock for our USA customers.  The cost is the same, but instead of 145% tax, you'll pay a 10% consumer tax on arrival from Australia - it may even get tax free as has occured on the last 3 shipments.    

Unfortunately the cost of air-freight Aust to USA is significantly more than the China to USA base price so we have no option but to pass on the differential in freight costs on to you and this is why there is a freight penalty for USA.

This business model adds around $US125~$US175 freight and $0?-$US110 tariff to the total cost of a Gentle Roller to the USA (above the price shown on the shop page.   We are not updating the base page as the numbers are in constant flux and Trump could change the rules again at any thime.

An inconvenience, but $US125~$US285 ex Australia is reasonably manageable for those customers wanting the benefit of a Gentle Roller.  And a lot cheaper than a 145% tax penalty which is the 'Chinese' obstacle created by Donald Trump.