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[cteno4]

In the last year fedex and DHL have both been cheaper for most orders I put together than EMS was! HS seems to also have a Lower minimum cost than hlj does! 
 

cheers

 

jeff

[marknewton]

 I ordered these on the 3rd of March, to be shipped via surface mail, and they arrived on Tuesday. Not bad, all things considered. Now I'm waiting for EMS to Australia to restart so I can get my loco and carriage order delivered.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[James-SNMB]

Thanks everyone for sharing your shipping experience during the time of COVID. It's been really helpful keeping up to date and planning purchases.

 

I reserved a couple of the Hiroshima Type 1000 trams expected for December and picked the Registered SAL option for now, figuring I can change it to EMS if things stay as they are with COVID disruptions.

 

I checked DHL online for a price to ship a small package from Japan to Canada and it was $155! Plus there may be some brokerage pain. So I don't think that's going to be an option for me, unless there are other Canadians kicking around with firsthand experience with DHL orders?

[bill937ca]

DHL has been about the same as EMS. You will be billed for sales taxes in my case HST plus an administration fee and handling fee.

[Cat]

We just put in a small order with HS.  4 Kato power units and 3 bus & truck caskets.  Surface parcel wasn't showing as a shipping option to the US when I went to checkout. DHL was 3740¥.  When I put in a 4th casket, shipping jumped to 4579¥, so removed that.  The causa emptionis were the power units, the storage cases were just generally useful and to make the shipping worthwhile.
 
It's well worth playing a game of 'now how much will this cost?' to figure out when you're going to jump weight/size thresholds

Edited July 12, 2020 by Cat

[cteno4]

Each business sets up a contract price with DHL directly. Some get better deals than others and different rate curves, depending on overall volume and probably on the number of the average size boxes they usually ship. Most shippers now give an awful rate for the individual. A couple of years back I almost paid $45 for a FedEx document overnight within the us. I remembered my wife’s work had a number we could use to get their rate (big Bank and cc company) and it was $6...

 

even when I was doing a lot of express stuff with my business, getting your own free account with a shipping service really reduced the prices!

 

with HS you can go part way thru checkout to see the rate your package will be like cat did.

 

jeff

[Kamome]

On 7/9/2020 at 11:02 AM, marknewton said:

 I ordered these on the 3rd of March, to be shipped via surface mail, and they arrived on Tuesday. Not bad, all things considered. Now I'm waiting for EMS to Australia to restart so I can get my loco and carriage order delivered.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

Those Plum details look really nice. I might have to get some of these passengers and I’m quite interested in their electrical boxes too. I do hope they decide to produce a lot more HO detailing as it’s definitely lacking compared with the N gauge. 
 

Does anyone produce a motor unit for their 201系?

[James-SNMB]

@bill937ca, @Cat, @cteno4: Thanks for those replies! t's very rare to see DHL trucks in my area compared to other couriers. While I had assumed that the business rates would be slightly cheaper than personal (similar to the post office), I hadn't considered the impact COVID would have on the personal rates. Makes sense. Also, when I was reading about the DHL option on HS and the article mentioned that they did not have a pricing list to share since it varies based on package, I had actually misinterpreted that to mean you confirm your purchase and payment, and shipping option before they weigh/size the package and give the DHL price, after they get a quote. I realize now they were just referring to their shipping prices table. It's good to hear you can compare the prices beforehand, and good to know that it'll be similar to EMS, even in Canada (thanks Bill!) where unexpected fees are not uncommon.

 

I'll probably wait a couple of months before ordering the unitram I'm planning to get, and maybe SAL will be an option again. But it's good to know EMS and DHL both sound like equally sound alternatives.

 

You guys are the best!

[roadstar_na6]

5 minutes ago, James-SNMB said:

I'll probably wait a couple of months before ordering the unitram I'm planning to get

 

Brave descision since most stuff is out of stock pretty fast since Japanese companies usually don't have huge warehouses where they stack 50 pcs. of each item just in case somebody orders them. I've learned that the hard way by now and paid a high price for it 😄 If you want something and it's available, buy it!

[Cat]

20 minutes ago, roadstar_na6 said:

I've learned that the hard way by now and paid a high price for it 😄 If you want something and it's available, buy it!

Yes, pain is a good teacher! 1999 keeps low stocks of RR items on hand, and restocks rapidly, but only if there's stock to be had.  I've lost out on a number of items that were in my cart waiting til the next fiscal hobby month when someone else bought it and the category changed to permanent Sold Out.
x_X

[cteno4]

James,

 

it’s not covid, all the private shipping companies have always been way lower to ship thru a large business account than personally. Covid caused DHL to “renegotiate” their contracts for higher prices (from what I saw hlj.com went up about 20% or do after Covid set in and DHL was in the best spot for keeping shipping going) but I expect the personal rates soared as well due to covid. Gov postal services have a harder time doing individually negotiated deals so biz stuff usually just ends up a small discount unless you have a ton of business like amazon or ebay, but even that then gets them political heat. Private ones can pretty much negotiate as they want.
 

good news is DHL and even fedex are pretty competitive with EMS from japan to many places even before Covid and have become the main route for many places now with limited passenger flights (how EMS travels as baggage). Of course Sal is silly inexpensive for smaller packages than any of those if you can stand the 2-3 wait (pre covid) and once Sal is restarted again once passenger flights are back up and going again. But I don’t expect that for quite a while and it may end up changing the whole equation in the long run for sal sadly.

 

hs and hlj both have an automated checkout system that will give you the shipping quote before you purchase. They take the dimensions and weight Of items and calculate the box it needs to go in and that determines the shipping price along with weight.
 

large inventories from production and all thru the retail chain are not the norm in japan. Usual caveat is if you really want it (and your wallet can afford it) get it when you see it! But it can make your decision making much harder if you have to have many more things than your wallet can afford (or should)... but I guess that’s always an issue!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Cat]

Yes, DHL is raising their commercial rates dramatically.  Increased demand and all that.  When last I spoke with EuroRail in Canada, they've stopped restocking any goods from Germany for the duration because DHL broke their old contract with them and jacked the rates up prohibitively.

"I am altering the deal, pray I do not alter it any further!"

Edited July 12, 2020 by Cat

[cteno4]

Yeah but luckily the rates from japan to most places don’t sound like they soared too badly. Hlj was about a 20% increase (haven’t checked the last couple of weeks) and amazon’s really jumped, about doubling for the first item, but little change in charges for additional items. I’m sure amazon had the most sweetheart deal with DHL of anybody and that first item is the main thing that will fill up a cargo plane, not the weights of most all of their packages. I was surprised that HS got a better DHL deal than hlj had, they must do some volume.

 

jeff

[Cat]

I think the good folks at EuroRail cited a 40% DHL increase from Germany to Canada.  They didn't think their customers would support a 40% price increase, and I had to concur.  

[bill937ca]

1 hour ago, James-SNMB said:

@bill937ca, @Cat, @cteno4: Thanks for those replies! t's very rare to see DHL trucks in my area compared to other couriers.

 

DHL is delivered by Loomis Express which is part of TFI International.   No DHL trucks.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFI_International

Edited July 12, 2020 by bill937ca

[cteno4]

DHL is the king of subcontracting around the world for last but deliveries. Most places they focus on getting the package in country then subcontract local small firms to do the last bit.

 

jeff

[cteno4]

26 minutes ago, Cat said:

I think the good folks at EuroRail cited a 40% DHL increase from Germany to Canada.  They didn't think their customers would support a 40% price increase, and I had to concur.  

yep I think it was how much business a company does with them. I would posit that when they got hit with more packages and limited capacity themselves with Covid the didnt hit the larger customers hard that were continuing steady and easy stream for them and it was the smaller, more sporadic shippers harder as probably more work per package which is not what what you want with limited capacity, staff, etc, so little guys got the higher increases. 
 

I was shocked by the amazon.co.jo jump, went from about $7 for the smallest item for global shipping from japan to the us to about $13.50. But again I get that as adding a few more things to the box just increases fuel costs a bit, but that volume is the limiting factor when you have limited cargo space. I kind of thought amazon has sort of a SAL deal with DHL as my amazon packages over the years have been from a little under two days to six days from japan to dc. Other DHL from japan was always right on 3 days in the past. Been the same during covid as well.

 

jeff

[Yavianice]

FYI DHL is not transporting goods from Germany to Canada, and haven’t in a while. They only transport via sea nowadays. @Cat

[James-SNMB]

20 hours ago, roadstar_na6 said:

 

Brave descision since most stuff is out of stock pretty fast since Japanese companies usually don't have huge warehouses where they stack 50 pcs. of each item just in case somebody orders them. I've learned that the hard way by now and paid a high price for it 😄 If you want something and it's available, buy it!

 

20 hours ago, Cat said:

Yes, pain is a good teacher! 1999 keeps low stocks of RR items on hand, and restocks rapidly, but only if there's stock to be had.  I've lost out on a number of items that were in my cart waiting til the next fiscal hobby month when someone else bought it and the category changed to permanent Sold Out.
x_X

 

Even for standard track pieces though? I would have thought track is a safe(ish) bet to be regularly stocked. For other items though, I totally agree.

 

You've mostly convinced me regardless. I know what I want to order, I have the money ready, and possibly saving a few dollars in shipping is really the only possible benefit, so what am I waiting for? I'll check if there's any other items I want to add to make the EMS (and inevitable customs fees) worthwhile. I'm struggling to decide if this forum is a "good" or a "bad" influence...

 

...Both. It's definitely both.

 

19 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Of course Sal is silly inexpensive for smaller packages than any of those if you can stand the 2-3 wait (pre covid) and once Sal is restarted again once passenger flights are back up and going again. But I don’t expect that for quite a while and it may end up changing the whole equation in the long run for sal sadly.

I think I read somewhere that Air Canada was restarting flights to Japan, probably in limited capacity. Who knows if that gets us SAL back. SAL packages and other "slow" mail options for delivery tend to skip through customs checks in my experience, so I've saved the 5% GST plus $9.95 fee on a lot of items to date.

 

I'm splitting hairs though. It's reasonable to assume that things won't be back to normal in any real capacity until some time after there's a vaccine available, and we just adapt in the meantime.

 

19 hours ago, Cat said:

I think the good folks at EuroRail cited a 40% DHL increase from Germany to Canada.  They didn't think their customers would support a 40% price increase, and I had to concur.  

I also have some buildings on backorder through EuroRail, and they did say they were waiting for shipping to become reasonable again. Didn't know it was through DHL. 

 

Model trains in the time of COVID. Could be worse.

[Cat]

Bog standard track pieces are reasonably safe.  However, the very last Tomix C243-15(F) sold out while the were waiting in my cart for a week; discontinued and replaced with the C243(PC).  Had they been in stock at HLJ, I would have been able to buy them immediately and tuck them in the Private Warehouse.  Fortunately, I was able to hunt them down at a US stockist.

[bill937ca]

This is when you need a Tomix master list of track pieces. This page is only available in Japanese.  There is another non-PC rail 243-15 available and that is Tomix 1863, but with PC ties which I just paint out. That is one of the reasons why I paint my track base and the rails. Once painted it is all the same.

 

https://www.tomytec.co.jp/tomix/products/n/1863.html

 

This is the master list. It lets you if an item is in stock at Tomix and is really only intended for dealers.

 

https://www.tomytec.co.jp/tomix/stocklist/detail.cgi?category=rail&srchmode=all

 

Tomix product list (for all categories)

https://www.tomytec.co.jp/tomix/stocklist/

 

As a note I don't paint turnouts. Too much chance of paint seeping into the mechanism. Maybe a rail marker which would be more a surface colorizing.

 

For Cat. The only source of Mini-Rail manual turnouts is the Tomix 91082 set.   Currently it is sold out, but comes back frequently. The Tomix site track set list  shows as being scheduled to come into stock in July.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10046278

 

https://www.tomytec.co.jp/tomix/stocklist/detail.cgi?category=railset&srchmode=all

Edited July 13, 2020 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

1 hour ago, James-SNMB said:

Even for standard track pieces though? I would have thought track is a safe(ish) bet to be regularly stocked. For other items though, I totally agree.

 

Over the last few years Tomix has been moving from 1000 and 1100 series stock items packaged in packs of two to boxes of four pieces stock rail with number in the 1800s (for regular track pieces).  was surprised earlier this year that the C243-15 was still in old packaging.  With curves four pieces  is usually enough for a full half curve. When track was packaged  as two pieces you might order two packs and find only one in stock and now you have to make another order.

[cteno4]

2 hours ago, James-SNMB said:

I think I read somewhere that Air Canada was restarting flights to Japan, probably in limited capacity. Who knows if that gets us SAL back. SAL packages and other "slow" mail options for delivery tend to skip through customs checks in my experience, so I've saved the 5% GST plus $9.95 fee on a lot of items to date.

 

I'm splitting hairs though. It's reasonable to assume that things won't be back to normal in any real capacity until some time after there's a vaccine available, and we just adapt in the meantime.

Yes really big savings then in addition to just the shipping costs for you! 
 

its more the japan end, they probably want plenty of space on their usual large SAL routes before they open it up again as getting a rush of packages to places that they still can’t get enough room on planes will just recreate the intitial fiasco. I’m worried once the dust has settled (and that’s going to take quite a while to settle) SAL may not be the same afterwards. I’ve had a very long run of great success and saved many thousands of dollars over the last 2 decades with SAL, so would like to continue but at least very happy with what I got!

 

yep perfect word, adapt.

 

jeff

[James-SNMB]

 

1 hour ago, cteno4 said:

Yes really big savings then in addition to just the shipping costs for you! 

Yeah, and we have a really low customs duty exemption amount in Canada when shipping goods. Anything values over $20 and we're technically supposed to be paying GST plus any other import duties (fortunately model trains are exempt from duty). It was speculated this might be increased as part of the NAFTA renegotiation, but I don't think anything came of it.

 

It's Kato track I'm after, so I should be good whenever I decide to order. Come to think of it, I should re-check the cost difference compared to some other US based retailers given this new shipping paradigm. HS was a little cheaper than MB Klein, last I checked, but this might tip the balance the other way based on shipping.

 

I always assume the $9.95 fee and GST are a possibility, and place larger orders to justify shipping and these fees, but I've gotten used to not having to pay... But I'm just a cheapskate splitting hairs... Carry on.

[JR 500系]

HS limited sale now on!

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/758/0/1

 

Grabbed myself a 5-car add-on set for my Tomix 323 at quite an ok price ~  🙂