Outsmarting Tariffs – A Smart Way to Beat the Tariff Trap 

Let’s address the effects of tariffs on your business, and how to easily survive them. We can’t control the world market, but we all know that this will increase our costs, most everyone will be impacted by them, and we are all fearful of raising prices. 

Catch 22? Yes, and no. We have been through this before but adapted quickly and it worked out just fine. How, you ask? 

Many of my clients are fearful of losing business, so they are paying for this with lower or no margins. A person can’t run a business this way, something must give. 

When gas prices skyrocketed in 1973 due to the oil crisis and OPEC oil embargo, we added a fuel surcharge! Oh yeah, now you remember. Everyone knew gas prices were out of control, so they understood the surcharge. It wasn’t about raising prices or profiting, it was a temporary measure to offset rising fuel costs. It wasn’t for the business owner’s benefit, and it wasn’t permanent.  Much easier to swallow than increased pricing that never seems to go back to where it once was. 

You heard it here first, add a “Tariff Surcharge” for now. A separate line item on your invoices so the customers see your normal pricing plus the surcharge. If you recall, nobody liked it, but everyone took it in stride. Eventually it went away as a separate line item and pricing continued as it had before the necessary adjustment. 

Voilà! Problem solved. 

Now You Know!