Japan Post suspension of international mail

[Froy]

EMS from HLJ. Seems it hasn't moved an inch 

 

[spacemanoeuvres]

4 hours ago, technoblue said:

Here's something of a sobering experience from my side. My last shipping estimate using DHL Express was with FromJapan. The package was hefty at 6.3kg (about 14lbs) and FJ doubleboxed it (as they do) so the actual shipping box was 24x16x13 inches. FJ is only offering FedEx and DHL as shipping options to US locations at the moment, The charge 2 shipping came to 13,500JPY for DHL and FedEx was slightly less expensive at 13,000JPY.

I think weight and size both factor into cost, especially once a package tips the scale at a particular number. I bought a couple acrylic storage bins in this case. If my local shop still had them in stock, I would have spent about $20 for UPS ground to ship them from NY city to my location which is considerable for ground shipping. Still, the prices make me curious (or maybe somewhat trepidatious) to see how much something like Arcadia's VF-0D will cost to ship using FJ at the end of the month.

FJ still offers surface mail to the US. I just had a couple things shipped via surface. 

Edited June 12, 2020 by spacemanoeuvres
wrods

[technoblue]

1 hour ago, Slave IV said:

Good thing FJ offers ferry shipping. My SSP packs I ordered through them should be arriving soon.

 

2 minutes ago, spacemanoeuvres said:

FJ still offers surface mail to the US. I just had a couple things shipped via surface. 

Thanks, guys. I thought that option was greyed out for me when I checked on this last order. I'll have to look more carefully when my next order arrives.

[neko878]

Is the Japan Post suspension still about two months or it is longer?  I'm just wondering if I should be concerned about my DX strike parts from AE.

[RedComet]

14 minutes ago, neko878 said:

Is the Japan Post suspension still about two months or it is longer?  I'm just wondering if I should be concerned about my DX strike parts from AE.

I finally got some things that shipped on April fourth last week, so maybe you’ll get yours in two weeks?

[Anasazi37]

27 minutes ago, neko878 said:

Is the Japan Post suspension still about two months or it is longer?  I'm just wondering if I should be concerned about my DX strike parts from AE.

I ordered the same set through FromJapan and it shipped on 18 Apr via EMS. It made it to the Tokyo airport the same day and hasn't moved since (see tracking history below). Japan Post estimated up to four months to clear out their EMS backlog. Yours is probably at the airport, too, but hasn't been processed yet.

[neko878]

On 6/13/2020 at 4:29 PM, RedComet said:

I finally got some things that shipped on April fourth last week, so maybe you’ll get yours in two weeks?

A least its seems like its starting to move.  I hope my shipment is right after yours.  Thanks RedComet!

On 6/13/2020 at 4:47 PM, Anasazi37 said:

I ordered the same set through FromJapan and it shipped on 18 Apr via EMS. It made it to the Tokyo airport the same day and hasn't moved since (see tracking history below). Japan Post estimated up to four months to clear out their EMS backlog. Yours is probably at the airport, too, but hasn't been processed yet.

Yours got stuck too?  Hopefully we all can get our shipments soon.  Thanks Anasazi37!

Edited June 15, 2020 by neko878

[easnoddy]

I have 2 order from NY that are only Preorder Payment OK and haven't been shipped. DHL is not an option at NY. Works great and is cheaper at CD Japan. I wonder when and if they'll ever be shipped. 

[Benson13]

I'm waiting on a Super Ostrich and Klan figure from Jungle and there's no word from them at all.

[jenius]

Jungle basically said they are willing to do an indefinite hold and nothing else so... hope for a vaccine!

Edited June 16, 2020 by jenius

[VF-Zer0S]

I’m about to just upgrade to ups right now.  
an extra $33 to get it this week sounds very tempting for something ordered over a year ago lol

[hachi]

Covid has really f*cked up business, just imagine the lost sales due to shipping difficulties. I myself have stopped ordering stuff from overseas, fearing that packages will get stuck if a lock down/quarantine is imposed. I'm hoping things improve by the 4th quarter as there are some gunpla I want to order. On the other hand, I got extra $$$ but they will be spent on house fixes etc. Sorry Bandai, HLJ, NY, Amazon

[jeniusornome]

I got an email from Okini land recently about orders and shipping. They were offering the “hold indefinitely” or “ship ferry” or “ship DHL” options. 
 

having recently had a new item shipped via ferry without my knowledge, and it arriving in... unpleasant, odd smelling shape, I asked them to just upgrade to DHL. 
 

that said, in their email, they said they were hoping for normal post service to resume by late August. I don’t think that’s based on any solid info, but there’s a Japanese opinion on it from a Japanese source, which to me is probably a little better than random speculation from someone outside of japan. 
 

take it with a grain of salt, obviously, but if you’re really wanting stuff right now and not, you know, October or so when this all starts up again, I say pay the upgraded shipping fee and roll with it. 

[Vertex]

Thanks to the advice here I kept sending a new request ticket after every denial and Dr. No finally said yes. It only took 5 tries!  This is YN so it will still be a year+ before anything gets shipped.  :P

@VF-Zer0S Is that $33 to upgrade a DX SPP to UPS from NY?

Edited June 16, 2020 by Vertex

[VF-Zer0S]

2 hours ago, Vertex said:

Thanks to the advice here I kept sending a new request ticket after every denial and Dr. No finally said yes. It only took 5 tries!  This is YN so it will still be a year+ before anything gets shipped.  :P

@VF-Zer0S Is that $33 to upgrade a DX SPP to UPS from NY?

Yes

[DYRL VF-1S]

2 hours ago, Vertex said:

Thanks to the advice here I kept sending a new request ticket after every denial and Dr. No finally said yes. It only took 5 tries!  This is YN so it will still be a year+ before anything gets shipped.  :P

@VF-Zer0S Is that $33 to upgrade a DX SPP to UPS from NY?

Dr. No.... love it...

[vladykins]

13 hours ago, Benson13 said:

I'm waiting on a Super Ostrich and Klan figure from Jungle and there's no word from them at all.

Jungle let me lump some things I ordered later into my pile of things sitting and waiting; they said they don't normally allow it but given the situation, they reduced the shipping cost. So now I have a Bandai reissue 1/55 Skull leader with Super parts, 2 Hi Metal R CFs, and now a Yamato Low Vis 1/48 1A waiting. I'm not in a rush to get them yet, since I got great prices.

[Benson13]

I agree, the prices are great. The Super Ostrich was only $300 and the Hi-Metal R Regult I snagged a few days ago was only $99.

[505thAirborne]

Slightly off topic yet still the same concept. 

For my home business I ship domestic & International, that is until about 3 weeks ago (I've canceled shipping overseas for now). Packages that were shipped with Airmail or EMS Express back at the end of April into early May are either just now arriving to the UK & Europe or they're still making there way. So far nothing lost or return to sender but it is EXTREMELY slow. 

A friend of mine who works at the Chicago Cargo hubs told me a few weeks ago prior to Covid-19 if USPS or FedEx flights were 40 a day it's now maybe 3 or 4,  those are not exact numbers but you get the idea, it's really slow & still restricted, same thing around the world. 

So if you're willing to buy Macross & Anime items from overseas sellers like NY, HLJ, etc then be prepared for a long wait. Some people are getting super lucky but the other 90% are in for a lesson of extreme patience. 

 

[Focslain]

Got an order recently from CDJapan, at the time EMS was not an option, so went with DHL and got it in a week. Was also cheaper then EMS for once.

[Anasazi37]

9 hours ago, Vertex said:

Thanks to the advice here I kept sending a new request ticket after every denial and Dr. No finally said yes. It only took 5 tries!  This is YN so it will still be a year+ before anything gets shipped.  :P

@VF-Zer0S Is that $33 to upgrade a DX SPP to UPS from NY?

 

6 hours ago, DYRL VF-1S said:

Dr. No.... love it...

So the name is catching on! Maybe we should change it to "Dr. No-Unless-You-Ask-Five-Times".

In related news, I'm finally seeing movement on my SSP set that made it through customs at the Tokyo airport on 18 Apr (shipped EMS). Basically two months of waiting in line. We'll see how long it takes until the next update, but theoretically it's now on a plane and heading to the US....

[eXis10z]

Interesting. I had an item mailed out by a private seller in Japan and it was dispatched out of Osaka within 3 days. Meanwhile my CDJ stuff is still stuck at outwards after 2 weeks.

[kajnrig]

As per https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/information/2020/0618_01_en.html: 

Quote

 

Meanwhile, we will resume and suspend acceptance of mail items as noted below from June 19.

EMS and parcel-post/letter-post items by air destined to the following countries:
Estonia, Austria, Croatia, Sweden, Spain, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway, Hungary, Bulgaria, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg

Parcel-post/letter-post items by surface destined to the Independent State of Samoa

 

No resumption to the USA yet - and frankly, given how woeful the public health response here has been, I don't foresee us getting on the Nice Kids list for a while yet.

[Mommar]

13 minutes ago, kajnrig said:

As per https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/information/2020/0618_01_en.html: 

No resumption to the USA yet - and frankly, given how woeful the public health response here has been, I don't foresee us getting on the Nice Kids list for a while yet.

Woeful?  You know Sweden never shut down at all and they're on that list.

[jenius]

1 minute ago, Mommar said:

Woeful?  You know Sweden never shut down at all and they're on that list.

Whoopsy! That's pretty funny. 

I imagine the criteria for returning to service is capacity (flights) and demand (# of parcels going to that country) based. Big countries will be slower to get service back because they will require more flights per day to make it feasible.  

[Slave IV]

I wonder if anyone else is a bit annoyed that Okiniland had a notice saying that all orders placed before April would be shipped using an available method at no additional charge but now they removed that note and are asking for additional payment to ship orders. They are offering to hold items so it's not a huge deal to me but considering how much people here like to complain, to me going back on your word is worse than just taking a long time to do something or pretty much anything else.

Edited June 17, 2020 by Slave IV

[DYRL VF-1S]

1 minute ago, Slave IV said:

I wonder if anyone else is a bit annoyed that Okiniland had a notice saying that all orders placed before April would be shipped using an available method at no additional charge but now they removed that note and are asking for additional payment to ship orders. They are offering to hold items so it's not a huge deal to me but considering how much people here like to complain, to me going back on your word is worse than just taking a long time to do something or pretty much anything else.

I wondered about that and will ask about it when the time comes if needed.  But for example, my YF-29 preorder with them was actually less expensive to do DHL than it was to do EMS by like a couple bucks.  My VF-1A should be relatively the same.  It may not cost anything extra at all.  So, until they send me an invoice for more money or update me, I won't worry about it yet.  Now, if they pull what NY did and say it's $33 extra on top of the $42 I already spent, I'll complain and do something about it.  My love for a shop is as fluid as "what-have-you-done-for-me-lately". 

[Slave IV]

7 minutes ago, DYRL VF-1S said:

I wondered about that and will ask about it when the time comes if needed.  But for example, my YF-29 preorder with them was actually less expensive to do DHL than it was to do EMS by like a couple bucks.  My VF-1A should be relatively the same.  It may not cost anything extra at all.  So, until they send me an invoice for more money or update me, I won't worry about it yet.  Now, if they pull what NY did and say it's $33 extra on top of the $42 I already spent, I'll complain and do something about it.  My love for a shop is as fluid as "what-have-you-done-for-me-lately". 

Haha yeah. I'm doing the same and it really doesn't matter to me. Just figured I'd see pitchforks here over it but then again, they aren't called NY.

Whatever happens, it is a negative mark to me if they are going back on their already published word. That's the kind of thing that means more to me.

[vladykins]

28 minutes ago, Mommar said:

Woeful?  You know Sweden never shut down at all and they're on that list.

 

They shouldn't be, since they've been tracking about a 9-10% death rate and spiked on new cases recently.

We're at least very slowly trending downwards on new cases and holding at a 5% death rate.

[DYRL VF-1S]

53 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

Haha yeah. I'm doing the same and it really doesn't matter to me. Just figured I'd see pitchforks here over it but then again, they aren't called NY.

Whatever happens, it is a negative mark to me if they are going back on their already published word. That's the kind of thing that means more to me.

Agreed completely!  I actually missed the announcement that they'd offer the upgraded shipping at no charge, so I appreciate your post alerting me.  (Though, they had mentioned to me in a message that they would ship DHL if needed, and I assumed the same.)  So, we'll see what happens, and that would certainly dictate my response.

[jenius]

The higher a country's average life expectancy the higher the death rate percentage is since it tends to lay waste to nursing homes but younger people are much less affected and, due to testing inadequacies, frequently not even diagnosed. That said, there must be a plane or two going from Japan to Sweden again and only a few boxes that ship that direction so it makes it back on the list... the Japanese postal system isn't judging countries, just dealing with the logistics. 

[DewPoint]

Just a reminder that international travel and shipping is a relationship between two countries.  The "why" your package isn't shipping is a combination of Japan not allowing the shipping, your country not allowing shipping or it just could be the shipping company not shipping.  Either way, we just gotta wait or pay more.  Hopefully we don't miss out on items we really want (or need).  I think its far better to be able to still order and have to wait for shipping that to be excluded due to shipping.  At least your will get it at some point in the future.  Hopefully without a crushed box.

[CF18]

My Metal Build ARF Kai from CDjapan took 7 weeks via EMS.

[borgified]

CDJ only had EMS I take it @CF18?

So that means the package most likely sat on the Warehouse floor till there was enough packages to be sent out or there was a backlog of staff since social distancing was to be in effect. 

Hopefully that you didn't get dinged for Custom Fees and at least it arrived (unlike NY who has been sitting around and still not delivered the HMR VF-4G Roy to some members here).

[Slave IV]

2 hours ago, borgified said:

CDJ only had EMS I take it @CF18?

So that means the package most likely sat on the Warehouse floor till there was enough packages to be sent out or there was a backlog of staff since social distancing was to be in effect. 

Hopefully that you didn't get dinged for Custom Fees and at least it arrived (unlike NY who has been sitting around and still not delivered the HMR VF-4G Roy to some members here).

CDJ has DHL. I made an order recently and they charged less than AJ would have. Got the item in less than a week.