KEY POINTS

Federal Express sued the U.S. government, seeking a “full refund” of the money the shipping giant paid for tariffs unilaterally imposed by Donald Trump, which the Supreme Court last week ruled were illegal.

FedEx’s suit appears to be the first one filed by a major U.S. company after the Supreme Court decision seeking a refund of the tariffs it has paid.

Other companies filed lawsuits seeking refunds before the high court ruled that the tariffs Trump imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are illegal.

  • 24_at_the_withers@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    I needed a replacement for an item hat failed under warranty. The original part was made in Canada, and a replacement was mailed to me free of charge. Except, I got a note from FedEx that i had to pay tarriffs… My tariff was $5, but FedEx was charging a $25 tariff handling fee on top of the $5. And if I didn’t prepay, they would instead charge $40 total to collect my $5 tarriff.

    FUCK FedeEx for having the audacity to request a refund from the federal government on top of their blind extortion. These fuckers need to burn.

    • ...m...@ttrpg.network
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      2 hours ago

      …on christmas eve, federal express delivered a structural modelling kit i ordered from brasil two years ago; on boxing day they submitted a $400 invoice for the related tarriff + brokerage fees…

      …at the time, the supreme court ruling was expected shortly after the holiday, so i was in no rush to pay an invoice likely to be voided and unlikely to be refunded, and i waited as the court delayed judgement over the next six weeks…in the six weeks between delivery of my package and the court ruling, federal express have sent me six invoices which remain unopened, that’s six past-due notices for a unilateral invoice less than sixty days old…

      …i appreciate that they delivered my package on account of shipping fees i paid two years ago, i appreciate that this administration put them in a tough spot and i wish them well with their legal remediation, but i have no intention to pay an illegitimate invoice unlikely ever to be refunded to me as an individual…

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      They’ll charge you another $25 fee to process your $5 refund if you want it.

      Edit: this was a joke … i just realized someone that paid a very big tariff might actually think they were offering a refund for $25 and would want it.

  • NutWrench@lemmy.ml
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    5 hours ago

    Corpos passed the cost of those tariffs on to consumers in the form of higher prices. They already GOT paid. But why screw consumers once when you can do it twice?

    • Capt. Wolf@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      Oh no… It’s not just once… They passed the rate of the tarrifs on to us, now they’ll recoup the cost that WE paid, AND they’ll continue to charge us at those increased rates even if the tarrifs are lifted.

  • NutWrench@lemmy.ml
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    7 hours ago

    DID Fed Ex pay those tariffs? It seems to me that those costs were passed on to the consumers.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      7 hours ago

      They’re suing on behalf of their customers. I’m sure they will also be spending the settlement on behalf of their customers as well.

      This was entirely predictable, also don’t expect cost to go down now either.

    • sirscooter@lemmy.zip
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      7 hours ago

      I agree that Fed Ex should be sending those refunds to everyone who has to pay them.

      But I think FedEX should be able to sue. It used to be anything under $600 didn’t get a tariff. It was too costly and burdensome on the package handlers to collect the tariff. Also the system was designed to hold those $600 packages, not all the packages. Instead of ramping up Fed Ex had to handle a new system blind, with no preparation time. That had to effect core business

      Hell would love to see a class action suit by all the package shippers and handlers against the government for what they had to go through

  • TheObviousSolution@lemmy.ca
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    6 hours ago

    They’ll get their tariff money back - if they remember to bribe Donny. Otherwise, he’ll probably try to get federal agencies to harass them.

    • StinkyFingerItchyBum@lemmy.ca
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      5 hours ago

      he’ll probably try to get federal agencies to harass them.

      Government and corporations at war with each other? Go on, tell me more.

      🍿🍿🍿🍿

  • Ghostie@lemmy.zip
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    12 hours ago

    Get to pay for tariffs twice in the US. First was the cost of the illegal tariffs passed on to the consumer. Second is the refund for the illegal tariffs to the companies as a taxpayer.

  • rogsson@piefed.social
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    12 hours ago

    Turns out running a country like a company with no clue how to run a company is a bad idea.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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    16 hours ago

    Governor Pritzker of Illinois has already sent a demand letter for $1700 for each household in Illinois.

    They should have to pay back all corporations, and then send a check to every household. It was this administration that caused this, and they should have to pay for it.

    • Cort@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      Problem is, it won’t be paid by Trump & co., it’ll be paid by taxpayers. And the tax cuts for the wealthy that depended on the revenue increase from the tariffs, aren’t going away.

      • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        So the tax payers get a refund by paying extra taxes. And yet I’m not allowed to pay off MY credit cards with other credit cards. So unfair.

  • Puddinghelmet@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    Yeah Trump now you have to pay everyone back with all the country’s money you laundered away from US and venezuela, and the corrupt deals you made with, among others, saudi arabia. Maybe you can still make some coin on the international trade you wanna set up with ruzzia. Hope he also has to pay back everyone he scammed with his bitcoins.

    • village604@adultswim.fan
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      2 hours ago

      The problem is the money is just going to go to the businesses who passed the cost to their customers.

  • 0ndead@infosec.pub
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    19 hours ago

    Hey FedEx, you’re gonna refund the customers that you passed those tariffs onto, right?

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      Real talk…

      I ordered some shit not thinking about tarrifs, and one item from Slovenia where the seller explicitly reached out to say there’s be tariffs and to make sure it was cool since some Americans flipped out…

      I never paid a single tariff.

      Like, when exactly were people getting charged?

      • 0ops@piefed.zip
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        18 hours ago

        the seller explicitly reached out

        The times the seller didn’t do that. A few times now I’ve ordered something with no tariff charges mentioned not realizing that I was ordering out of country only to get an email saying it’s being held by the delivery company, they paid to get it through customs, and won’t deliver until I pay them.

        That’s just things that I’ve bought directly from other countries though. Most goods just have higher prices to cover any tariffs (or just because they can). I promise you even if you haven’t paid a tariff directly, you’re still paying.

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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          18 hours ago

          Weird, it was just the first sentence at first.

          ordered something with no tariff charges mentioned not realizing that I was ordering out of country only to get an email saying it’s being held by the delivery company, they paid to get it through customs, and won’t deliver until I pay them.

          Yeah, that’s what I expected, didn’t happen tho.

          I promise you even if you haven’t paid a tariff directly, you’re still paying.

          I know it raised the prices of things in America, but I meant explicitly ordering things from other countries that should have been tariffed, and no one ever tariffed me

          • Denixen@feddit.nu
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            16 hours ago

            Could be that the delivery service absorbed the cost in order to not scare its customers. Might have raised their service fees instead.

      • fizzle@quokk.au
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        17 hours ago

        It kind of amazes me that you’ve managed to navigate the previous year without understanding this but…

        You’ve been paying the tariffs every time you consume anything at all, it’s just that no one called you to inform you that some component of what you’ve paid is a tariff.

        Suppose there are 2 brands of toothbrush at the shop, one from China and one from the US. They’re equivalent in every way and last year they were $1 each. Since the tariffs, goods from China have attracted a 50% (?) tariff, so if the cost price is $0.90, then the new cost is $1.35, plus a markup for the shop and that’s $1.50. The problem, if it’s not already obvious, is that the US producer can just increase the price of their toothbrushes to $1.35.

        The really daft part is, the US producer’s costs will have increased with tariffs in the same way, and their employees spending power will have decreased.

        As an aside, IIRC you’ve often opined that voting for Kamala would have been tantamount to supporting genocide. I think we might have had some discussions around that. Your comment provides a fascinating insight into the kind of cognitive ability that supports that position, so thank you for that.

      • Xraygoggles@lemmy.world
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        17 hours ago

        Hey just a shot in the dark here, but was it a puzzle book? My favorite puzzle book guy is from Slovenia.

      • Davel23@fedia.io
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        17 hours ago

        I ordered a PC from China a couple of weeks ago. I got an email saying they were declaring the item’s value to be $80 to mitigate tariffs. I expected to have to pay something when it arrived, but it was just dropped at my doorstep like any other delivery.

  • ramble81@lemmy.zip
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    18 hours ago

    Realistically since the American consumer ultimately paid it, it should be returned via a tax credit on our taxes. That was it doesn’t matter if you paid via higher prices, or flat out paid import fees. It goes back to the consumer.

    • dan1101@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      I think maaaaybe on b2b or larger transactions that included a Tariff line item in the invoice. The $2 widget you bought at Dollar Tree, not likely.

      From the POV of a business it cost them more labor and money to collect and pay the tariffs and now getting reimbursed and paying the customers/clients back would cost them even more labor and money.

      It’s an unfunded cluster fuck of an issue that never should have happened to begin with.

    • null@lemmy.org
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      15 hours ago

      You kept receipts for everything you bought since the tariffs went live?

      • ramble81@lemmy.zip
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        12 hours ago

        Nope, which is why it should be a standard amount. For example, Illinois is suing for $1700/person regardless of what they spent. That’s what they calculated out was the average.

          • ramble81@lemmy.zip
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            7 hours ago

            It’s never going to be perfect. Good luck with that, but the question is “did you spend more than $1700 in tariffs?” I mean you’re welcome to try to sue every company and the government directly to get it back.

          • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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            7 hours ago

            Then you’re probably reselling some shit and passed those prices on to a customer.