Eagle County business owners say they’re in tariff limbo when it comes to stocking products
From laptop sleeves to e-bikes, companies wonder how tariffs will impact their operations
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
August Wittenberg’s business depends on imported merchandise. He wonders what tariffs will do to his next orders. Paul Hields is wondering when he can update his business’s website from “limited stock available.”
Wittenberg is the chief operating officer of SayNoMore! Promotions of Eagle. The company specializes in promotional materials for companies, everything from custom shirts to laptop sleeves to backpack coolers and more.
Wittenberg said recently that a lot of the firm’s apparel comes from suppliers who source their products from countries including Vietnam and countries in Central and South America. Other items come from China.
While there’s currently a pause on a previously announced 145% tariff on Chinese goods, there’s a lot of anxiety about what that will do to prices. And despite the current pause, Wittenberg said there’s still a lot of uncertainty regarding imports and pricing.
In an email, Wittenberg noted that given the timelines involved, companies still aren’t comfortable ordering goods that take three months to produce. When the time comes to ship those items, the tariffs may have changed.
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“That is the big complaint from my contacts,” he wrote, adding that “These 90-day tariff windows are not a solution.”
Wittenberg recalled that a client recently wanted to order custom umbrellas. The supplier was out of stock, and wasn’t getting more in the foreseeable future. A 100% tariff would make that item unaffordable for Wittenberg’s customer.
At the moment, “Nobody has (that style of) umbrellas,” Wittenberg said, “And nobody knows how much they’re going to cost.”
It’s that way with any number of the countless products SayNoMore! offers its customers.
Paul Hields is in a different situation.
Hields, the owner of Wildsyde Electric Bikes in Avon, gets his bikes from China. That company’s website at the moment lists last year’s prices and has bikes in stock, but with the caveat, “limited stock available.”
Hields said the bikes Wildsyde has in stock are carryovers from last year. The current hold on the 145% tariffs is helpful for Wildsyde, Hields said, adding that there’s still a lot of uncertainty.
Hields’ original business, SporTube, a hard-sided luggage for sports equipment, has a different tariff environment. SporTube is made in the U.S. with some components imported from Cambodia. Those tariffs aren’t as high, but the levies still affect the prices of components, he said.
Hields said even with the 145% Chinese tariffs on hold, new e-bike shipments would be subject to a 55% tariff levied from various U.S. sources. That would add roughly $500 to the cost of a new bike. That means the bikes in stock “remain your best buy,” he said.
Moving forward, Hields said, even in the best case, he expects a 10% global tariff to remain in place.
Hields said he has a bike order ready to place, but he hasn’t done so yet. Lead times from placing an order to delivery are about 60 days, he said.
Hields said, “we’re making inroads as a country” regarding leveling the playing field with other nations. But, he added, the current environment is making things difficult from a business operations point of view.
And, he added, “I’m still not in a position to place that order.”
