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8:40am on Wednesday, 5th August, 2026:
Anecdote
I arrived at the post office nice and early yesterday, to send some playing cards to someone in the USA who wanted to buy them from me (he collects playing cards that show Julius Caesar, and my Goodall Shakespeare cards did exactly that) ( well, his playing cards now, as he's paid me for them).
There were three people in front of me in the queue. The two women between me and the man at the head of the queue, who was being served, were looking impatient. The man himself was taking issue with the woman behind the counter over the amount he had to pay.
The circular conversation went something like this:
Him: But why do I have to pay extra?
Her: Because of the tariffs imposed by the United States.
Him: But why isn't this included in the postage price?
Her: We don't know how much it will be until we tell them what's being sent.
Him: But why not?
Her: Because we don't set the tariffs.
Him: But if I don't know, how can I know how much to charge my customers for postage?
Her: It will be same every time you send the same thing.
Him: But I don't always send the same thing.
Her: Well you could always charge the maximum it could be.
Him: But then people wouldn't buy my work, it would be too expensive.
Her: I'm sorry, but I don't have any other suggestions.
Him: But why do I have to pay, and not my customers?
Her: Because they might decide not to pay, and then it has to be sent back to the UK, which is expensive.
Him: This will ruin me. I'll lose all my American customers.
Her: That can be a side-effect of tariffs.
Him: They don't think of the little companies they'll put out of business.
Her: You still have to pay extra.
It cycled back through this three or four times while I was there, paraphrased in different ways and sometimes missing an exchange, but basically the same. The woman behind the counter was professional about it, not raising her voice or pointing out that there was a queue. Two more people had joined behind me by now, then a third joined who had to sit down because she'd had a knee replacement. Although we all heard this, including the man who was attempting to persuade a British postal counter worker that she had the power to revoke the US tariff system, it didn't speed him up.
Eventually, he paid his extra fee and left grumbling, but defeated.
The next customer only wanted to know how much it would cost her to send her package, so it didn't take long to serve her.
The next customer had a UK parcel to send, and it didn't take her long to be served, either.
I took a little longer, because there was a customs form to fill in. Playing cards don't attract a tariff, but there's a £1.50 administration fee to pay for finding out that they don't attract a tariff. The woman behind the counter was up for explaining to me why I needed to pay, but I just paid it. It wasn't within her discretion as to whether to ask for it or not, and it seemed to me that she'd had that conversation many times already (perhaps not in quite a circular fashion).
I understand that tariff randomness can be very frustrating, but there was no need for the man to occupy fifteen minutes of her time and of those behind him in the queue. He must have known it would all be to no avail.
I'd already told the nice person who bought my cards what the postage was, and he'd paid it in advance. I didn't charge him the extra £1.50.
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Copyright © 2026 Richard Bartle (richard@mud.co.uk).