We recently received this email from a small company in Georgia that designs, manufactures, and tests custom optical systems. Its customers range from amateur astronomers right on up to NASA and other government agencies. Here’s what the owner said about GSP expiration:
We import zero expansion glass from Russia for use in telescope and aerospace optics. This glass is only available from Russia, Germany and England. There is no US manufacturer.
We received a shipment in February and were shocked at the taxes we had to pay as we were unaware that the GSP had expired. Needless to say this added cost ate away at our profit.
We are a small business and we will lose business if we have to raise our prices to cover this added expense to our manufactured products. Thanks for your advocacy in this matter.
In a follow up email, the owner said he’d contacted both Senators and his Congressman, but received only generic responses. Regardless of the response, it’s important to keep those calls/emails going in to Congressional offices.
If you’re hurt by GSP expiration and want your story told, let us know and we’ll do our best to get the word out!
