That’s exactly the point.
And while one can “gumpily” accept that purism afterwards declares that VAT has to be paid additionally which is regularly not the case if the shipment is from within the EU (single market - vat get’s payed when you pay the product or when it enters the single market - shipping from Germany means it’s already in), paying the shipping company for transferring it through the VAT or having to go to customs contradicts the free worldwide shipping.
When the campaign started and when I backed, I was totally convinced that shipping from Germany means that the VAT was within the price. I also grumpily saw that I would have to pay additional VAT. But now also having to pay the shipment (having the shipment company doing the vat stuff for me is part of the shipment costs) just seems to be unfair.
When I am working with clients we all make mistakes or unexpected events happen. But in the end we always find a solution. Ofc if a vendor has been payed before delivery the client has close to no means, but most of the times no matter the power situation the solution lies in the middle as I want to continue making business with them based on a partnership.
To be honest I am not satisfied with “no update”. My interpretation of “no update” is that there are also no efforts in getting the shipment from Germany / EU. I can understand that there are currently far more important things to do for the general perspective like battery / performance issues, but on the other hand there also seems to be time and priority for announcing a Librem 5 USA to which at least as it seems to me a lot more effort has to be done (don’t get me wrong - Librem 5 USA is great).