Greetings from St. John Spice!
I wish this was a happier post. On Saturday September 20, 2025 we received a notice from our local U.S. Post Office stating that all packages shipping from the U.S. Virgin Islands to the United States are now subject to tariffs put in place by Executive Order # 14193. Of necessity, we shut down our online store while we figured out how to implement the new tariff requirements, with no information from our U.S. Postal Service available. Some of our customers had existing orders with us, and we thank them for their patience as we navigated the new tariff system.
St. John Spice is making every effort not to increase prices on all our products in spite of the fact that we are already paying tariffs. In general, we also pay Customs twice before we receive much of our merchandise. For this reason (and others), we are unable to absorb the costs of these tariffs on shipments.
Here is what we know: Per Section 2.2 of US Postal Code, United States Citizens are not subject to tariffs. However, even though we are U.S. Citizens here, the U.S. Virgin Islands falls outside of the "Customs Zone" that the United States and Puerto Rico fall into. (You can read more about this here: Merchant Marine Act of 1920.) In addition, Executive Order # 14324 has ended the De Minimis Treatment which allowed purchases of $800 or less to enter the country without tariffs. (You can read more about EO#14324 here: End of De Minimis.) These tariffs have huge implications for many businesses within the U.S. Virgin Islands who ship customer purchases, and the tariffs must be paid to get the goods in the hands of customers. We are partnering with other locally affected businesses and legal experts to try to make the situation more fair. In the meantime, customers will bear the cost of the tariffs.
Here is what changed for our online store for the time being:
1. Shipping prices have increased. Customs and Border Control is requiring us to use an online app to pay for the tariffs and associated fees before the U.S. Post Office will accept packages. There is a processing fee that must be paid to obtain a clearance code for each order, even in instances where no tariffs apply to the order. We have raised our shipping prices to account for this processing fee.
2. Some items in our online store will be subject to price increases. In addition to the costs of the tariffs, the online app also charges a percentage of the tariffs. It has therefore been necessary to raise our prices on items that were not produced in the United States. Rather than try and figure out how to apply the varying rates of tariffs based on the country of origin at checkout, we will be raising prices on the affected items to reflect the tariff percentages.
3. Some items have been temporarily taken down from the online store. We have taken down items which require verification of the country of origin. We are working to restore everything as quickly as possible, however we are a small team and as you know, we carry a lot of products. If there is a product you are looking for and don't see, please email us at info@stjohnspice.com. We are happy to assist as much as we can on a case-by-case basis while we work to implement these new tariffs.
4. Tariffs apply only to items that are being shipped to the United States. If you are looking to place an order for pickup, tariffs do not apply. We are working to create a discount code that can be used at check-out to remove any tariffs, but we had zero days of notice regarding this situation. For now, you can either continue with your transaction in our online store and we will refund you the tariff amount, or you can call us at 1-340-693-7046 or email us at info@stjohnspice.com to place your order and avoid the tariffs all together. This only applies to orders being picked up in person.
5. Tariffs do not apply to “printed materials” or documents, including calendars, art prints, maps and books. If you are looking to order just printed materials, we have a discount code that can be used at check-out to remove tariff processing fees. Prices on these items have not increased.
6. Delivery of orders placed online may take longer. In this process of implementing the tariffs involves more work and more time spent processing orders here. We also do not know how this will affect the United States Postal Service delivery times. Please enter your email address when ordering so you can save the tracking number you receive when your order is shipped. We are working with our local United States Post Office ensure timely processing and delivery of all packages.
Please be patient as we navigate the impacts and the costs of the tariff process. If things change, we will be sure to update everything as quickly as possible. We appreciate your continued business.
Sincerely, Ruth, Sophie & the rest of the team of St. John Spice.