Amidst recent ongoing issues with international orders, Canada-based publisher Via Lactea took to Twitter/X to advise their customer base of the difficulties they are currently experiencing with U.S. shipments fulfilled through UPS.
The publisher’s post is shared below:
@UPSThere is another ridiculous thing our readers should know.
You know how heavy To Rule in a Turbulent World#4 is, right? It weighs less than 2 lbs. However, UPS randomly changed the shipping weight to 4 lbs because they claimed they “re-weighed” it.
Can you believe that?
We even recorded a video showing the actual weight of the books and submitted it as evidence in our complaint. Until now, they still refuse to solve these problems.
Don’t worry, though. We covered the additional 4 lbs shipping charge for you ourselves 😀
But honestly, UPS’s handling of this situation is absolutely ridiculous.
[Source: Twitter/X]
The publisher alleges that UPS incorrectly doubled the weight of shipments of To Rule in a Turbulent World Vol. 4, which resulted in an increased shipping cost. Via Lactea states they will cover the cost difference themselves while they continue to seek remediation of the error through UPS’s customer service channels.
The screenshots shared by the publisher indicate that they have been attempting to resolve the matter with UPS since March 2026, but have allegedly received no resolution despite providing proof of UPS’s error. As of May 13, UPS returned the shipment in question to Via Lactea alongside allegations that the publisher filled out customs information incorrectly.
@ups
We are extremely disappointed with the handling of our recent shipment by @upsWe explicitly selected UPS shipping and chose UPS as our customs broker during shipment creation, exactly like our previous shipments. All invoices, HS Codes, book values, and other required information were already provided before purchasing the shipping label.
However, UPS suddenly demanded additional documents, refused to answer our questions, ignored our emails for days, and eventually returned the packages without properly communicating with us.
Even after we immediately provided every requested document on the same day, both UPS and Freightcom kept delaying the process, refusing to explain the situation clearly, and ultimately denying responsibility.
What makes this even more unreasonable is that the shipment was returned while still in Toronto and never even left Canada, yet we are still being charged high shipping fees and they refuse to provide a refund.
We fully cooperated throughout the entire process and responded immediately every single time. This issue was caused by poor communication and brokerage handling, not by the customer.
[Source: Instagram]
Via Lactea cites UPS’s poor customer service as the direct cause of their call for a new shipping partner in January 2026, which they secured in April 2026.
On May 01, Via Lactea stated that orders of To Rule in a Turbulent World Vol. 5 and Psycho will be shipped to buyers after their warehouse relocation. Their new shipping partner allows them to offer free U.S./Canada shipping on orders made through their site that total over $299 CAD, and a 5% shipping discount for other countries and regions. Via Lactea’s books are also available through many third-party retailers, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Some third-party retailers have already received their shipments of the aforementioned books, as per a recent Instagram story from Germany-based shop UNNE.
Independently-owned, Via Lactea ships to customers and retailers directly rather than working with a dedicated distributor, such as Seven Seas Entertainment’s use of Penguin Random House. This is often more feasible for smaller publishers, but shifts the burden of storing, packing, and shipping product to the publisher themselves, as well as the task of resolving problems associated with any of those matters.
