DHL Resumes Germany-to-U.S. Postal Parcels After Customs Compliance Overhaul

DHL Group’s Post & Parcel Germany division will resume shipments of postal packages from Germany to the U.S. and Puerto Rico for business customers starting Thursday.

Companies can opt to use DHL Parcel International for U.S.-bound parcels, in addition to DHL Express.

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The decision follows a four-week suspension of these parcels into the U.S., which was implemented before the Trump administration scrapped the duty-free de minimis provision. That trade exemption previously enabled international shipments worth $800 or less to be shipped into the U.S. tax-free.

Dozens of postal services across countries like Mexico, Japan, France, India and more all opted to suspend mail bookings to the U.S. to certain degrees after de minimis got the axe. In the week before de minimis’ demise postal traffic to the U.S. plummeted 81 percent, according to the Universal Postal Union.

DHL joins U.K.’s Royal Mail, Canada Post and Australia Post among major international postal services that have since returned service to the U.S. after their self-imposed bans.

The German logistics giant said it completely overhauled the entire data collection, customs reporting, and customs payment processes “in a very short time” to comply with the new U.S. customs regulations.

Many of the international postal companies impacted by the decisions cited that the guidelines to adapting to the new policies were unclear, and gave them very little time to prepare.

DHL customers will be able to use the “Postal Delivered Duty Paid (PDDP)” service to mail these goods to American businesses. The shipping company previously offered only for goods shipping to the U.K., Norway and Switzerland.

The booking of the PDDP service is mandatory for postal goods shipping via DHL, where the merchant sending the package covers all import duties for their recipient customers in advance. Royal Mail offered the same option when it reopened parcel shipping to the U.S., with those services powered by cross-border logistics provider Fulfillment Bridge.

According to DHL, shippers must provide complete and accurate customs data, particularly the customs tariff number and country of origin for each individual item.

The PDDP service costs 2 Euros ($2.36) per shipment. Additionally, the fees from the service provider, referred to as the “qualified party,” and the customs duties themselves will be passed on to the business customers without any markup.

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The ad valorem method will be used for calculating customs duties, so shippers would have to pay the respective tariff rate imposed by the Trump administration. German shippers would pay the 15 percent tariff levied on members of the European Union.

“DHL emphasizes that the actual parcel prices to the USA will remain stable,” said DHL in a statement. “The additional costs incurred by business customers for postal shipping to the U.S. will be based solely on external factors for which DHL is not responsible and over which it has no control.”

The new shipping process does not apply to private customers. Packages from individuals to individuals with a goods value up to $100, declared as “gift,” are not affected by the new regulations in the U.S.

However, these shipments will be monitored even more closely than before to prevent the misuse of private gift shipments for shipping commercial goods, according to DHL. There are also no changes for shipping documents in letters.

The company also said shipping goods via DHL Express, as well as importing goods into the U.S., under the currently applicable customs rates remains possible.

DHL eCommerce, which provides domestic and international parcel delivery for high volume business customers, is one of 25 businesses that are certified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to collect customs duties for low-value shipments entering the country.

The segment has been active lately, with the U.K. branch of DHL eCommerce getting regulatory approval from the European Commission Tuesday to officially merge with last-mile delivery firm Evri. Earlier this month, the parties previously got cleared in the U.K. by the country’s antitrust body, the Competition Markets Authority, to merge.

DHL eCommerce UK will rebrand as Evri Premium in 2026.

The Commission concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns, given that the joint venture has “negligible activities” in the European Economic Area and that the combined market position of the companies is limited.

The combined group will bring together a team of over 30,000 couriers and van drivers, along with 12,000 additional employees, and a fleet of 8,000 vehicles.

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