The text was based on a conversation with Jared Fisher, CEO and co -founder of Escape Adventures, a company dealing with adventure tourism, as well as the owner of several bicycle stores in Nevada and Utah. In 2018, Fisher ran for Governor Nevada on behalf of the Republican Party. The text has been shortened and edited for transparency.
I am a Republican and I have been running a company dealing with adventure tourism for over 30 years. We organize a few days of motorcycle and bicycle trips with trekking elements, mainly in the southwest of the USA. We also run bicycle stores in Las Vegas and Utah.
Recently, I decided to add a new item on the prices of some products, especially electric bikes: customs tax. All electric bikes from our main supplier got up to 10 percent.
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In stores we have exactly the same models of bikes hanging side by side. One costs $ 4,500 (approx. PLN 17,000) and the second $ 4950 (less than PLN 19,000). Difference? The moment of purchase. One of them we bought after the entry into force of the increase resulting from the customs. We must explain this to clients and puts us in an awkward situation.
Trump has flip -flops on his eyes
Whether we like it or not, as a stationary store we pay this tax, because without paying the customs we will not bring the goods. If I don't have a bicycle in a store, I don't have sales. And without sales there is no business.
The question remains: do we transfer the cost of customers to customers? The margins in the bicycle industry are small. If we cut off 10 percent from them, we can immediately think about closing the business. You can't act like this. This is the reality.
In 2018, I ran for Governor of Nevada as a Republican. I didn't vote for Donald Trump. It was because of him that I decided to run. I watched him as a “businessman” and came to the conclusion that he did not understand that America is not a company. I have the impression that he has flip -flops on his eyes.
I believe that people should be responsible for their decisions. You can introduce a policy that you consider to be good, and we will understand it. However, we will also say who is behind it. I have no problem indicating the product where the price comes from. Customers must know that I have any chances as an entrepreneur.
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Crazy uncertainty
This customs policy introduces total chaos. Uncertainty is simply crazy. I ordered new sleeping bags from China on our summer trips and I just found out that the supply chain was interrupted. I don't know when I get them or what to do now. In the peak of the season, instead of focusing on customer service, I have to deal with such matters.
I don't have time for all this confusion. I planned everything in a dead season. Now I should implement this plan and not look for substitutes for things I have already prepared.
We also see the effects of customs in the tourism industry. We have many customers from Canada. As soon as the discussion about the duties began, they began to cancel reservations. We are talking about amounts of 2-4 thousand. hole. (PLN 7500–15 thousand). One of the groups wrote: “We love you, but we can't invest our money in a country that our state treats and talks about us in such a way.”
Dutch influence on everything. Sometimes huge, sometimes barely noticeable, but it's like someone was asking you thousands of small wounds. You will finally bleed out. In a word: unnecessary. All this does not have to happen. And yet it happens.
