Fort Worth cooler company faces impacts from tariffs, higher ‘American-made' prices

Businesses are currently taking advantage of the 90-day pause in the tariff war between the United States and China.

A Fort Worth company that manufactures its products in the U.S. said it still faces challenges with tariffs and consumers willing to buy American-made products.

In the warehouse of Bison Coolers in Fort Worth, a product they are proud of goes into their boxes. The boxes proudly display where they are made.

“We're the only cooler company in America that makes both their hard and soft coolers here domestically,” Bison Coolers’ President and Co-founder Jeremy Denson said.

That seemed like an advantage in a world of tariffs. But Denson explained that it comes with a cost some people may have a hard time accepting.

“They love that and love to support American, but by and large, it's often a challenge, sometimes because our costs are significantly higher than a manufacturer importing from overseas,” Denson said.

Denson faced another issue affected by the tariffs.

“The drinkware, the capability does not exist to make that here in the United States,” Denson said. “So, it's all concentrated in the same area in Asia. So, a third of our products are significantly impacted by the tariffs themselves.”

For example, tariffs on a container shipment last month jumped from the normal $7,000 to $20,000 and even higher.

“Then it jumped to $145,000 before Monday, and now it's back down to $30,000, but still that's a significant amount,” Denson said. “How do I, as a business owner, plan around that and price my products to make sure I can stay competitive but still be able to turn a profit and take care of our employees?" Denson questioned.

He's thankful the U.S. cut tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to 30% for 90 days.

“I never thought I'd be excited to have a 30% tariff, but I'm actually excited because I can at least get my next container in here and make sure that my supply chain is intact and I have more product to sell,” Denson said.

That will help them have a product for the fourth quarter holiday season. He doesn't know what may come after the 90-day tariff pause, but he's remaining hopeful.

“We're going to weather this storm,” Denson said. “For us, it's just a matter of tightening up our spending, being as diligent as possible, to lower our cost on everything, and then getting as creative as possible and driving new sales to help offset that. But it's going to be tough. It's going to be a tough year for us and a lot of businesses.”

Denson hoped people will be understanding of price increases.  He said small businesses need the support the most right now.