Thursday, September 18, 2025

Swamp Milkweed

As I've said before, I put things in my Amazon virtual cart during the month and only when I reach a certain amount or really need something in the cart do I submit an order.  Whenever I check what's in my cart an "Important Message" at the top of the screen lets me know if anything in the cart or saved-for-later items has changed price.  At the beginning of the month I added a well-known name brand Christmas ornament to my cart.  It is made exclusively in Ireland.  Since then, every time I checked the cart that item's price goes up by four cents.   Not much money but once I realized what was happening I have been checking often - sometimes multiple times per hour - and it's another four cents costlier.   The ornament is now two dollars more than when I put it in the cart and the price is still increasing.  Curious, I googled the brand.  Nothing extraordinary: the brand wasn't sold, the factory didn't burn down, the workers aren't on strike, the item hasn't been discontinued, and no famous football player went on a talk show to wax eloquent about his collection of the stuff.    I assume the added cost is an offset for the U.S. imposed 15% tariffs on the European Union.  Despite the rhetoric, it is the U.S. public that pays those tariffs.  (Actually, I'm surprised anyone would claim otherwise.)    Wish Amazon had the guts to follow through on the idea of showing added cost caused by the tariffs.

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