- After a break of only four weeks due to the new customs regulations of the US government, the Post & Parcel Germany division is one of the first postal service providers in the world to offer goods by post to the USA and Puerto Rico for business customers again
- From September 25, business customers will again be able to use DHL Parcel International to ship goods to the USA
- New: Booking of the “Postal Delivered Duty Paid” (PDDP) service for shipments up to 800 US dollars as well as complete and correct customs data mandatory
- Prices for business customer packages from Germany to the USA remain stable
- However, there are additional costs for business customers due to customs clearance and customs duties, which are now incurred for all shipments except private gifts with a value of less than 100 USD after the previous duty-free limit of USD 800 has been eliminated
Bonn, 23 September 2025: The Post & Parcel Germany division of the DHL Group is one of the first postal and parcel service providers in the world to resume postal shipping of goods from Germany to the USA for business customers. After only four weeks, in which Deutsche Post/DHL and many other postal service providers had to suspend this type of shipment of goods to the USA due to new legal regulations, Germany’s largest postal and parcel service will once again offer companies the opportunity to use DHL Parcel International for shipping to the USA in addition to DHL Express on September 25.
This is made possible by the “Postal Delivered Duty Paid” (PDDP) service, which DHL previously only offered for shipping goods to Norway, the UK and Switzerland, and which is now being extended to the USA. In addition, DHL had to quickly re-establish the entire process of data and customs collection, as well as the payment of customs duties due, in order to comply with the new customs regulations under the U.S. government’s Executive Order “Suspending Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment for all Countries”.
What will change for business customers
Business customers who want to send their goods up to and including 800 US dollars by post to the USA will have to keep three things in mind in the future: 1) Goods up to and including 800 USD have been subject to customs duties since 29 August. The $100 duty-free limit applies only to private gifts – not to commercial shippers. 2) For the postal shipment of goods via DHL, it is obligatory to commission the PDDP service, in which the shipper pays all import duties for his recipient customers in advance. 3) You must provide complete and correct customs data, in particular the goods customs tariff number and the country of origin of each individual product.
The price for the PDDP service to the USA is 2 euros per shipment. In addition, the fees of the service provider – the so-called “qualified party” – and the customs duties themselves are passed on to business customers at no extra charge. The so-called “ad valorem” method is used to calculate the tariffs. DHL points out that the actual parcel prices to the USA will remain stable. The additional costs that business customers will incur from now on when shipping by post to the USA are based exclusively on external factors for which DHL is not responsible and over which it has no influence.
The new shipping process is not applicable to private customers. Parcels from private individuals to private individuals with a value of goods up to 100 USD that are declared as “gifts” are not affected by the new regulations in the USA. However, these consignments will be controlled even more closely than before in order to prevent the misuse of private gift consignments to send commercial goods. Nothing will change when sending documents in letters either. It is also possible to ship goods via DHL Express and to import goods commercially into the USA under the currently applicable customs rates.
The new shipping modalities for the postal shipment of goods from Germany to the USA only affect the products of the DHL Parcel brand. Products from other DHL divisions such as DHL Express or DHL eCommerce are not affected here.
On 29 August 2025, new customs regulations came into force in accordance with the Executive Order “Suspending Duty-Free De Minimis Treatment for all Countries”. On the one hand, these provide for the abolition of the previous duty-free limit for goods with a value of up to USD 800. In addition, new processes for postal dispatch required by the US authorities will be introduced, which deviate from the previous regulations. Due to some unresolved questions, all major postal companies worldwide, including Deutsche Post/DHL, were forced to temporarily stop shipping goods by mail to the USA.
Further information at: dhl.de/us-versand and dhl.de/pddp
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