Valued EU customers!

Bottom line up front: we may have to cease shipping to the EU.

We were made aware yesterday of new packaging requirements that took effect on August 12th due to the implementation of the EU's new "Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation" (PPWR).

In short, if our understanding of the new PPWR requirements is accurate, we may be required to:

1. Hire an Authorized Representative (AR) in the EU: Because our business is located outside the EU, the majority of EU states require us to legally contract an “authorized representative” within the EU to handle our compliance profile.

2. Register with National Registers: We must register our business with the official packaging register of every individual EU country we ship to (e.g., the LUCID register in Germany).

3. Pay into a Compliance Scheme (EPR): We must report the annual weight of the cardboard and plastic we ship into each country and pay a corresponding “eco-contribution” fee to fund local recycling infrastructure."

If true, these new administrative and financial burdens are not something we can absorb. We are actively seeking more information in order to plan the best path forward.

As of this writing, we are not in compliance with the new PPWR rules, we are not resourced to become compliant, and therefore we may have to cease shipping to the EU very soon.

As we learn more, we'll share our findings with you.

We acknowledge that many of our valued customers in the EU, Canada, and elsewhere have already stopped purchasing from US vendors for various reasons. We respect your decision to do so and you have our attention.

The loss of many of our international customers has greatly impacted us financially. As of this writing, our gross revenue is down more than 45% this year compared to last year.

Presently, our monthly sales are down 45% and our average order value is down 53% to $22 per order including shipping.

This breathtaking drop in gross revenue represents the financial loss associated with the loss of most of our international customers. It is far worse than the losses we experienced during the dark days of Covid 19.

Although we have taken action to mitigate these losses and remain in business (and so far those actions are working but just barely), we wanted to assure our valued EU customers that if we have to stop shipping to the EU, this is in no way some kind of retaliation on our part. It is merely a very regrettable action that we had to take in order to meet the legal requirements imposed on us by newly implemented packaging regulations. We value you and we respect you.

We hope that the political, economic and regulatory environment will improve soon and that we might see you again.

To those EU, Canadian and other international customers who do continue to purchase, we thank you very much!

More to follow as the situation develops....

Sincerely,
Model Monkey