It's an interesting take on this scenario. When you import something you as the importer are responsible for clearing the shipment through customs. This is something you "consent" to when you decide to be an importer of goods, to follow the laws of your country.
So
someone has to clear the shipment. As I noted above, you can let the courier do that for you and pay them, or pay a customs broker of your choice, or clear it yourself. Since most people don't have their own customs broker, and don't want the hassle of self-clearing, the couriers default to their own service for this, and charge you. This is quite honestly what I'm sure 99% of the people who are importing items for personal use do, because the alternatives are either more expensive, or too much hassle.
When you have a shipment incoming, you have the option of contacting the carrier to have them either send it to your customs broker, or to tell them you will self-clear. Most people aren't even aware of these options, because they are not experienced in being an importer. But as the importer, it's your responsibility to know and follow the laws. It's not the carriers job to educate people about how all this works.
I can see the point about consent in a way, but I really think the only issue here is if shippers should be contacting you to ask how you want the parcel cleared, rather than just clearing it by default - that is really the only consent I think that could be changed in this process. I've actually had carriers do that before, but I think once you do that it becomes the default for them for all future imports that come to you. Doing this on every parcel would delay millions of parcels every day, so I honestly don't think it would be practical to do so on every shipment, and the costs associated with doing that would simply be added to everyone's bill in the end, so it won't save anyone money in the long run.
