if only there was some sort of de minimis rule to help the Post Office on this…
Undoubtedly so. I’d also suspect that their infrastructure is, currently, focused on handling these things for deliveries to businesses, where the billing and payment of the duty is largely set up ahead of time, and done through the business’s FedEx account, rather than a FedEx driver having to collect it from a consumer at home during a delivery.
The point, as I remember from the good old days and Canada Customs, was that the shipment did not leave the bonded warehouse (did not “enter” the country) unti the duty was paid. So FedEx or DHL would have to make two trips to the random recipient’s house, or know their email or phone number, credit card etc. etc. rather than prepay themselves and take a chance that they would be able to collect the duty. This becomes a lot more complicated than with businesses with an existing account and a payment track record.
This is the point where the shipping company thinks “is it worth the bother?” especially when collecting, say $12.56. The additional broker fees to cover all this are likely to be significantly more than the parcel is worth. Back in the day, I mostly ordered books from across the border, as they were duty free.
My friend in Hawaii just sent my kids and I some t-shirts and they arrived yesterday. Listed value as $20 each, for a total of $60.
Fortunately, Japan doesn’t collect consumption tax and other tariffs on shipments with a value of less than 10,000 yen ($67) so I barely squeaked by.
It would have been $6 for the consumption tax and $13.80
for the tariff. (If google is correct.) for adding $19.80.
My experience with FedEx and DHL was that, at the absolute minimum, the recepient’s phone number was required.