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Since President Trump announced a sweeping slate of tariffs earlier this month, a highly uncertain market has led to supply-chain disruptions for everything from iPhones to electric bikes and Volvo cars. Now, the tariffs are coming for something else: your packages. The German-based shipping company DHL announced yesterday that it plans to suspend shipments of any packages over $800 to customers in the United States, starting today. According to a press release from the company, the move comes as a result of recent U.S Customs regulatory updates, which have caused DHL to face multi-day transit delays to the U.S from any origin for shipments with a declared customs value exceeding USD 800. The customs updates in question were instated on April 9 by the Trump administration to enforce its strict new tariffs. The updates require a more time-consuming formal customs process for any package entering the U.S. thats valued at $800 or morea major change from the previous restrictions, which only required formal entry processing for packages over $2,500. This change has caused a surge in formal customs clearances, which we are handling around the clock, DHL said in the release. What does this mean for US customers? For American DHL customers, the companys update means that it wont be possible to receive any package through DHL valued at more than $800. However, the company noted that business-to-business deliveries valued over $800 will not be affected by the new procedure. DHL also clarified that this measure is temporary, and that it will share updates as the situation evolves. DHLs new restrictions come just days after Hong Kongs postal service announced that it would cease handling any package shipments to the U.S., citing the Trump administrations abusive new tariffs and regulations. These new shipping limitations could be a harbinger of whats to come. As international shipping becomes more complicated and importers are faced with rising fees, many experts agree that shipping costs for consumers are likely to spikeor, in the case of DHLs new regulations, some options may disappear altogether.
Category:
E-Commerce
Underneath the slopes of the San Jacinto Mountains of Palm Desert, California, stands a house that looks right out of the pages of a magazine. With its distinctive rolling roof and mid-century modern design, the historic Miles C. Bates Wave House holds a coveted spot on the National Register of Historic Places. And now, thanks to a collaboration between modern furniture-and-design company Design Within Reach (DWR) and vacation rental company, Boutique, the Wave House is beautifully furnished and open to the public for rentals. [Photo: Courtesy Design Within Reach] DWR chose to outfit the house with pieces from its Paul Smith Collection, a collaboration with the British luxury fashion designer releasing the same day as the house booking. True to Smiths design philosophy of classic with a twist, the collection reimagines a selection of iconic Knoll, Herman Miller, and DWR furniture with colorful new textiles. From the Eames Molded Plastic Side Chair refreshed with a seat cushion fashioned in lime green polka dots to Eero Saarinens Womb Chair cheerfully covered in vertical stripes, the collection aims to strike a balance between modernity and tradition. [Photo: Courtesy Design Within Reach] The collaboration provides an opportunity for DWR to explore new ways to introduce their collections to audiences. Debbie Propst, president of global retail at DWRs parent company MillerKnoll, notes that this is an exciting opportunity to allow people to live with DWR pieces in real life and interact with them outside of a store. [Photo: courtesy Design Within Reach] This experiential marketing philosophy isn’t new. The shoppable hotel room phenomena has been rising in popularity as a way to entice guests to bring a piece of their vacation back home with them. Guests at the Wave House can purchase everything from side chairs to the bed frame. All of the pieces in the collection are available through DWR’s website and at its new nearby Palm Springs location, opened just this February. [Photo: Courtesy Design Within Reach] When planning the furnishings for the house, Omar Nobil, senior vice president and creative director at DWR, says that the companys goal was to embody the spirit of the property and create a transportive experience for guests. [Photo: Courtesy Design Within Reach] The striking architecture is a perfect home to the collection which honors form and function through bold applications of pattern, color, and scale, says Nobil. Great interior design has the power to move and inspire people when every detail, large or small, has been considered with the purpose of creating a particular, transportive experience.
Category:
E-Commerce
Remember when TikTok went nuts for Dubai chocolate? Well, that continued fervor is now causing an international shortage of pistachios. The trend took off in 2023 when food reviewer Maria Vehera posted a video unwrapping and eating the high-end chocolate bar (called “Cant Get Knafeh of It” in a nod to the traditional Arab dessert). The bar was originally launched in 2021 by boutique Emirati chocolatier Fix. Vehera’s video has since racked up more than 124 million views and is widely credited with sparking the Dubai chocolate craze. Instantly recognizable by its vibrant green filling, TikTokers flooded the platform with enthusiastic taste tests of the bar, which is sold exclusively in the UAE. Many also began rating dupes and attempting homemade recreations. The traditional recipe features milk chocolate, the shredded pastry known as kataifi, and a pistachio cream filling. If the bar wasnt already hard enough to get your hands on, the global shortage of its key ingredientpistachio kernelshas made it that much more precious. In just one year, prices have soared from $7.65 to $10.30 per pound, Giles Hacking from nut trader CG Hacking told the Financial Times. The pistachio world is basically tapped out at the moment, he said. Primarily grown in the U.S. and Iran, pistachios were already in short supply due to a poor American harvest last year. This year, Iranian producers have exported 40% more nuts to the UAE in the six months leading to March than they did in the entire 12 months before. Thats a major shift from 2023, when global supply exceeded demand and prices dipped, according to Behrooz Agah, a founding member of the Iran Pistachio Association. Major chocolate makers like Läderach and Lindt have since joined the trend with their own pistachio-infused products. Meanwhile, cookie chain Crumbl reportedly has Dubai Chocolate Brownie and Dubai Chocolate Cheesecake flavors in development. And with demand still booming, scammers have even set up fake websites claiming to sell the coveted chocolate. In response, some stores are now reportedly rationing the number of bars per customer. Id like to see them try to stand between me and my pistachio chocolate.
Category:
E-Commerce
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