OK, I almost had a meltdown today. My first real “I’m going to kill someone” day. Good thing I was working from home so no one could hear me scream every profanity I’ve ever learned. If you’ve been following my daily ranting you know that I’ve had particular difficulties with my recycled nylon supplier. This recycled nylon is uncommon and it’s the only material I need to import — I have been able to source everything else domestically. So right when I thought nothing else could go wrong with my nylon procurement, I contacted the sales rep today to ask about my shipment (it was already 1 week late), and she let me know that they hadn’t added in costs for port freight clearance and delivery, so my 5 rolls of fabric were just sitting in customs somewhere in the port of Seattle.
$#&*(#!!!
I spent the entire afternoon trying to figure out who to hire TODAY to get my goods cleared, because after a certain grace period, they charge you a storage fee. And my delivery had already been here a week. I contacted the Port of Seattle, and an awesome man named Steve Queen directed me to Expeditors International, which is a company that provides customs clearance broker services. They are pricey, but they seem very professional and were very clear about what I needed to do next. I just finished scanning all of the shipping paperwork and filled out a power of attorney form, and I am stopping by their office on Monday to go through the logistics of the customs clearance.
I will forever be scarred by this experience. With the added freight charges, shipping costs, broker fees, duties and taxes, this fabric ended up being 35% more expensive than the original price quote. My goal now is to find a domestic mill that can supply me with recycled nylon so I never have to go through this again.
I’m all tuckered out and need to call it a day. I’ll blog next week about the trade show I attended. Now I will have wine and watch Project Runway on Tivo.
Maybe the real business opportunity is in manufacturing recycled nylon in the US?
It does seem like this could be a good opportunity for US textile mills. From a customer service and fulfillment perspective, the bar is set pretty low for any new entrant.