25: Fragrance Shipping: Dangerous Goods Compliance & Logistics

Mike Lorentzen: 00:00:00

So a dangerous good for perfume is anything considered limited quantity. So anything from a 30 milliliter bottle and up that only a certain amount of quantity can go to the actual direct to consumer.

At the end of the day, step.

Intro: 00:00:11

Into the future with shipping smart. Outside the box is where the journey starts. From borders to buyers, we break it down fast. Nick and Jason deliver knowledge that lasts.

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Go Outside the box with the Asendia USA.

Nick Agnetti: 00:00:29

ing to you live from Manifest: 2026

Got my co host Jason Roland here and we have our special guest back again, Mike Lorenson.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:00:44

How is everyone doing?

Nick Agnetti: 00:00:46

Thanks Mike. Doing good at least. Good food, sunshine, great weather.

Jason Rowland: 00:00:52

Way better than weather in New York right now. So I am very happy to.

Nick Agnetti: 00:00:54

Better than the single digits.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:00:56

New York for sure.

Nick Agnetti: 00:00:57

Okay, everybody, we're here today to talk about the complexities of shipping DG or dangerous goods, specifically focused on fragrances to Canada, uk, EU and Australia, which Mike happens to have a good amount of knowledge in. So we're just going to get it kicked off here. We've got a full day of recordings and we're looking forward to it. So.

All right, Mike, what is, or could you break down what is DG and what's considered a dangerous good?

Mike Lorentzen: 00:01:20

So a dangerous good for perfume is anything considered limited quantity. So anything from a 30 milliliter bottle and up that only a certain amount of quantity can go to the actual direct to consumer at the end of the day.

Nick Agnetti: 00:01:31

Okay, so 30 milliliter and up. So you get the small bottle, medium bot, doesn't matter, that's a dg. Is there any point like samples, are those non samples?

Mike Lorentzen: 00:01:42

You can too as well? Those are a little bit easier to get in because you know, sometimes they're either like 5, 10 or 15 milliliters.

Nick Agnetti: 00:01:48

Yep.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:01:48

The 30 milliliters usually starts from an actual regular purchase bottle that someone would get at like a Macy's.

Nick Agnetti: 00:01:54

Yeah.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:01:54

Or a Walmart or something along that line.

Jason Rowland: 00:01:56

Right, so we're talking about individually used goods here.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:01:58

Right.

Jason Rowland: 00:01:58

People can order off of a manufacturer's website or a retail website and for sure get delivered to their home and then use for their own use.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:02:05

Absolutely. Yeah.

Nick Agnetti: 00:02:07

Okay, so all right. I don't do a lot with dg, you know, and I think most of our viewers and listeners know, you know, I'm in sales, just like you.

But, you know, I guess what I'd ask is what's the current state of shipping DG direct consumer right now especially, we had a big year last year with a lot of compliance changes and different things going on. So what does it look like right now?

Mike Lorentzen: 00:02:27

Yeah, so I know originally we were going to kind of touch on Mexico. So Mexico was the one country that we used to be able to go on the ground with Fiji and whatnot.

And due to some of the new T1 regulations going away, that has to get changed. And at some point, you know, I think you'll be able to ship dangerous goods when it comes to perfume and cosmetics down there.

But that's just going to take some time until some new regulations come into play. When it comes into, like the UK and EU and even Australia, it has to be air freighted over to those countries at the end of the day.

So we need a certain amount when it comes to it. So it's usually 100kg, which makes it cost effective for the consumer and for us, which is roughly around 220 pounds.

And, you know, then the sky's the limit. So we're trying to, you know, really grow that and really build that out. And we do think that there's a need.

And especially in the Northeast, there's a ton of perfume manufacturers that go global. Absolutely. Yeah.

Nick Agnetti: 00:03:20

Love it. All right, everybody in the Northeast, contact Mike. He lives in New York.

Jason Rowland: 00:03:26

Logistics expert. What are we. What are we talking about here for Canada? We're talking over the ground. We drive it over where. How does that work for us?

Mike Lorentzen: 00:03:34

Yeah, so. So for Canada right now we have a. We have a bunch of clients actually doing perfume up there.

So right now we're just doing everything through the ground. We're not airing it or anything like that.

So we're actually injecting it from a few clients, let's say on the east coast, through our Buffalo location and then distributing it throughout Canada.

Jason Rowland: 00:03:51

That's great.

Nick Agnetti: 00:03:51

That is great. And same transits as the rest of the. As the Canada product that people expect.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:03:56

Yeah, absolutely. As long as it comes in compliant and it has the right paperwork and the right kind of documentation, there should be no hiccups.

And, you know, our commercial team does a thorough job in the background of making sure that, you know, these customers are approved to ship dangerous goods well before we even start shipping. Great.

Nick Agnetti: 00:04:12

Okay. All right.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:04:13

So.

Nick Agnetti: 00:04:15

What. I guess who are what. So we talked about fragrances, but if I'm, you know, for. For other viewers and listeners, you know, what?

Shippers are going to be impacted by shipping restrictions. You mentioned limited quantity. But besides fragrances, what else is do we need to worry about?

Mike Lorentzen: 00:04:30

Well, batteries is the other one too, as well. And Jason and I were talking about this before the call. So there is a certain amount of batteries you can have in a consumer package.

So you can have two separate items in that package that has two batteries each, but no more than four. And if you go over that, then you have to actually put it into another box.

Nick Agnetti: 00:04:48

Isn't there also a rule that let's say you're talking about like a toy? Right. It has to be in the assembly, it has to be in the unit.

Jason Rowland: 00:04:55

It's got to be integrated into the thing that you're shipping.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:04:57

Right.

Jason Rowland: 00:04:57

You can't send a laptop and the battery separately in two different boxes. If it has a lithium ion or a nickel battery, it has to be integrated into the product itself.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:05:05

Correct.

Jason Rowland: 00:05:06

Okay.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:05:06

All right, good.

Nick Agnetti: 00:05:08

Jason, what do you got?

Jason Rowland: 00:05:09

Yeah, so for Mexico, right. We have a lot of that material now that's starting to flow through our Laredo facility.

And there was some issues with, with people in the industry because of the.

The import regulations being enforced kind of differently than they have in the past lately, and it's led to some companies losing their ability to move that kind of stuff. So can you talk a little bit about our solution and why it's different?

Mike Lorentzen: 00:05:35

Yeah. So if I'm not mistaken, right now we're going from the T1 clearance to an A1 clearance, which is about to go into effect pretty soon.

And then once it does, you know, we'll be able to clear those items and whatnot. So it actually has to go through a more of a formal claimer. It's where it used to be able to go through an informal clearance.

So it's a little bit more of a hands on process when it comes to clearance, but it shouldn't impact transit times too much. But also as well, you want to make sure that when you're sending these items, you're sending them, you know, the right way.

We've seen a lot of these brokers get closed down and shut down for doing things the wrong way. We want to make sure that we're doing the right way and we're staying compliant. Thank you.

Jason Rowland: 00:06:13

And that's always my biggest focus, is making sure that Asendia is doing things on the up and up. Right.

So that's something that we can kind of pass on that reassurance to our customers and saying, listen, your stuff's not Going to get stopped at the border and seized and blocked because of some rule or regulation. We do everything that we need to do to make sure that that stuff moves and that it moves in a compliant manner.

Nick Agnetti: 00:06:35

So for clarification, though, for right today, as it sits today, Mexico is on a little bit of a standstill.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:06:42

Yeah, we're on a little bit of a hiatus until we have the new solution into effect. But I. But I would think it should be up and running pretty quickly. And once it is, I think, you know, sky's the limit and it's a great product.

Absolutely.

Nick Agnetti: 00:06:53

Yeah. We had some significant success with that last year. So. All right, what about popular region? Any special nuances with.

You know, we mentioned the UK a little bit. Australia talked about Canada and anything specific to some of these areas?

Mike Lorentzen: 00:07:06

No. I mean, you know, obviously everyone knows that there's new EU regulations going into play too, as well.

So obviously that cosmetic bottle might cost a little bit more at the end of the day.

But, you know, due to the devaluing of the dollar right now, I still think it's going to be economically feasible to get something from the US Shipping to the EU when it comes to perfume.

And believe it or not, even like a country like Australia, their version of Macy's to get a bottle of perfume is actually three times the cost of what it is to maybe ship it and get it over there. It's actually pretty incredible.

Nick Agnetti: 00:07:36

That is wild.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:07:37

Yeah.

Nick Agnetti: 00:07:38

Okay.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:07:38

All right.

Nick Agnetti: 00:07:39

Do you have anything on the compliance side, Jason, Anything you want to go over?

Jason Rowland: 00:07:42

Well, I guess the main thing from, from a regulatory standpoint, Right. Is. Is all the little steps that have to take place in order for these things to move. Right.

The HS code has to be right, the IT mat data has to be right, the recipient' be vetted. What are some of the other, like, touch points for compliance for. For what you deal with specifically with DG moving internationally.

What is another big regulatory headache for you that you deal with right now other than dg?

Mike Lorentzen: 00:08:05

Well, you know, well, getting back to dg, I mean, you still need to be regulatory approved by our company. So you need to make sure that, you know, you have someone that's preparing the packages that's DG certified. That's the only way that we're.

We'll be able to handle those. There's also what's called a candy stripe paperwork that has to go into.

It tells us what's inside all those boxes when it comes to a consolidation shipment. So it's really, really important. But I think right now, what we're going back to, you know, the difference, compliance is cosmetics too, as well.

Right now, especially down to Mexico, is doing the same exact thing right now that we're, you know, we have to change from a T1 to an A1 clearance.

So once that's up and running, like we were kind of mentioning earlier, we do think that we'll be, you know, well equipped to rehandle those shippers. And there's not many brokers anymore that have the ability to do it. Yeah.

Jason Rowland: 00:08:53

So I think the biggest thing even for our listeners here is that is, are there, are there things in the way of getting your package where it needs to go? Yes. Do we have the ability to do it in a compliant manner and make sure that it moves for you 100%?

So it's not the big insurmountable problem that I think a lot of people think that it will be, which kind of makes them shy from committing to it. But there is a way of doing it and there is a way of doing it in a compliant way that, you know that we can help you.

And obviously with you as our kind of resident sales DG expert that we're trying to, to get more of that volume through both into Canada and the EU and Mexico. So I think the offerings that we have are, are great.

And if there's anything we can do to help you out with them from a legal standpoint, we're always here for you.

Nick Agnetti: 00:09:37

Mike, is that part of your official title, resident Sales DG expert? Is that, is that what we got there?

Mike Lorentzen: 00:09:43

I think Jason kind of just added that, but I'll be more than happy to take on any leads.

Nick Agnetti: 00:09:47

I mean, hey, that's going to be a lot. All right, so quick recap. Talked about dangerous goods.

We've got Mike Lorenzen on, and we talked about the fact that as a partner, Asendia has great solutions in place to help with DG shipping internationally across border and talked about different regions. I mean, anything else you want to add in for a quick recap?

Jason Rowland: 00:10:09

No, I think it's, again, it's a great ability to have this flexibility in these products that we offer. And having guys like Mike here and, you know, it's a great, great benefit to us.

Nick Agnetti: 00:10:20

Hey, our resident sales DG expert in the house. Okay.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:10:23

All right.

Nick Agnetti: 00:10:23

Thanks, Mike.

Mike Lorentzen: 00:10:24

Appreciate it now you guys. Appreciate it. Have a good 1 share subscribe and.

Outro: 00:10:28

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