So a couple of years ago I backed a project on Kickstarter, for a deck of cards that would supplement TTRPG play. The project itself doesn’t matter, I’ve backed many such projects over the years, and they aren’t to blame for what happened here, so they will remain nameless. The main thing that matters is that their creator was based out of Canada, and I’m in the United States.
Anyway, the project shipped in early 2025, through the US Postal Service. This was fine, as I’d paid for the shipping rate on this roughly $25 deck of cards previously, and I anticipated it arriving in due course, as usual. Except that it never arrived.
I was able to track the deck as it bounced from Toronto to California to Oregon (where I am), then inexplicably to Baltimore, and eventually to some deal-letter outpost in southern Maryland. I communicated with the project creator, and he was able to verify that my shipment had gone awry, and he was set to send me another deck, since mine had apparently been lost in the mail.
Then the Tariffs happened.
Suddenly, due to Trump’s weirdness, getting a $25 deck of cards from Toronto to Oregon would cost an additional $30 and change, using UPS (the cheapest option at that point). Why? Because “F*ck Canada”, I suppose. Anyway, as you might guess, this was wholly unacceptable. The creator apologized (although this was none of their doing), and refunded all of my money, cancelling the order.
That should have been the end of it, right?
Right?!?
Recently, I received a letter from UPS, demanding that $30 and change. Why? I have no idea, since that deck was never shipped to me, the order was cancelled, and they literally had done nothing to warrant charging me or the project’s creator. But JP Morgan was demanding that they be paid, as they were somehow a broker for UPS, and they wanted their pound of flesh.
For literally nothing. Nothing.
So I tried calling UPS, to let them know that this was completely unacceptable, and they can take their bill and shove it straight up JP Morgan’s collective ass, but every time I tried, I couldn’t get through. So I just didn’t pay it. Frankly, I would love to see them try to sue me over a shipment they never made.
Anyway, this is simply the last straw. While I love the many TTRPG and supplement creators who are from outside of the US, or who print their products from outside of the US, I will not be backing or buying anything that isn’t printed or shipped from within the US anymore. No tariffs, no surcharges, no UPS breathing down my neck to pay fees on an international shipment that never happened.
Sorry, but I’m done.