When UPS charged me a $684 tariff on $355 of vintage computer parts

I live in the US and order a decent amount of things from overseas... I got hit with tariffs once by UPS when ordering some clothes from Germany. They wanted 44% of the total value of goods in government / brokerage charges. It's pretty clear that UPS is scamming people and hoping they don't fight the obscene charges. That being said, I hit pause on ordering from overseas. I don't want to deal with such terrible transparency in what I will be charged.

This is your daily reminder that tariffs are a tax on American consumers and are NOT paid by the country the tariffs are imposed on, no matter how desperately the current administration might try to convince you otherwise.