Trego's Mountain Ear

The specific spot where the tariff changes got to me was antacid tablets – the best product for dealing with my GERD is produced in England, and I have been able to buy it through Amazon.  The de minimus exemption from tariffs – which exists because it would cost the government more to collect the tariff on my antacids than it would collect – coupled with the free shipping from Amazon Prime, made it an economically viable choice to import a better antacid from England.

After the tariffs started becoming an issue, and the de minimus rule went out the window, I could no longer order four 48 packs at a time.  I can still order a single 24 pack – but the economics of importing a superior antacid have changed.  I still had 3 unopened packs on hand – but replacing my stash looked like it would be a lot more expensive.

After checking the online availability for a couple of weeks, a new American made generic version showed up on my Amazon search – some ingredients, now 50 tablets packed loose in a pill bottle instead of packaged in individual bubbles – costing slightly less per tablet than my orders of 192 at a time.  Took some time online to find the alternative – and I don’t know yet if it will work as well – but at present, it looks like some American has already started mixing the antacids and alginate to solve my problem.

I’m not sure that it isn’t capitalism in action.  Damned if I don’t think it’s a miniature example of what Trump had in mind.  The final test will be if the replacement product works as well.