Severe Japan Post SAL/EMS/ePacket suspensions due to COVID-19 + Russia's invasion in Ukraine! -> (Updated March 8 2022)

[bill937ca]

EMS has really speeded up in the past 3-4 weeks at least from the Japan side.  Parcels are still sitting in containers on our side here.

[paolo]

I know it doesn't interests many people here, but Japan Post has resumed shipping (EMS and Air Small Packet) to Italy, yay!

And also to New Zealand.

[Yavianice]

First post updated to reflect the newest updates from June 30th.

[Tony Galiani]

Nice surprise today - my package from Model Trains Plus showed up in today's mail.  It was posted on April 7th so about three months to get here though most of that was spent sitting in the post office in Japan.

Pleased to get a few items for my current project, particularly the Tomytec power unit.  I can now run two trams on the layout!

Cheers,

Tony Galiani

[Cat]

Is domestic post in Japan running slow now too?

It seems like auction items are taking longer than usual to get to ZenMarket.  I have a bunch that have been two weeks now, and the oldest is a full month and not arrived yet.  Although, that just might be sellers who are slow to get the packages out.

[railsquid]

13 minutes ago, Cat said:

Is domestic post in Japan running slow now too?

It seems like auction items are taking longer than usual to get to ZenMarket.  I have a bunch that have been two weeks now, and the oldest is a full month and not arrived yet.  Although, that just might be sellers who are slow to get the packages out.

 Not that I'm aware of. There was a blip around the time of the Great Toilet Paper Crisis of 2020 when online shopping demand went way up but everything normal now.

[bikkuri bahn]

Domestic postal services as well as the package delivery services (Yamato, Sagawa, etc.) are operating as normal.

[roadstar_na6]

I‘m on the same boat than Cat tho. Stuff takes ages to reach ZenMarket instead of the usual 2-3 days. But maybe that‘s just sellers not shipping out stuff that often atm

[Cat]

No one wants to go to the Post Office in the rainy season?

I've been planning on getting all my stuff shipped by about 27 July before I start hitting the 120 day free storage limit on the earliest acquisitions.  At the rate things are going, all my current purchases may not have arrived by then.

[Yavianice]

Japan Post said today that while services are partially restored (see the previous update which lists the countries) there are heavy delays expected for UK, SEA countries and Mexico. About 3 weeks is their estimate.

[Cat]

Happy day!  The order that Plaza Japan sent out on 1 April just arrived this afternoon, having had a long quite sit in a back corner of an airport without getting returned to sender.

Also received an Outlands building sent from China on 26 June, that zipped right along.

Meanwhile, still many auction items taking rather longer than usual to cross Japan to ZenMarket.  A number two weeks out.  At least the one from 3 June just arrived yesterday.  I'm betting on the theory that no one wants to go to the post office in the heat and rains of the summer.

[Cat]

Or maybe the ZenMarket delays are in getting items from the loading dock door into processing.  Latest update on their operations shows that the processing situation there is even way crazier than imaginable.  Sisyphos in the mountain of returned packages, but they are doing a herculean job of restoring order (hmm, borderline mixed metaphor that, but culturally contained at least)
https://zenmarket.jp/en/blog/post/9304/delays-july-2020

[roadstar_na6]

Interestingly I received an item in the warehouse within two days of winning the auction. It was delivered cash on delivery tho 😄

[Cat]

ZenMarket had extended their free storage time in warehouse from 45 to 90 days, and then to 120 days.  Their warehouse is now bursting at the seams, and they are dropping back to 45 days free storage and up to 45 days paid storage after that — this will apply to any items that arrive on or after 8 August.  Items arrived before then still get the 120 days free.

I'm glad they've grandfathered in the earlier purchases.  It's still taking 2-4 weeks for many items to cross Japan to get to them!  We're just waiting on 3 items before shipping: one purchased on 9 July, and two on 25 July.  The 120 day clock for the start of our whole pile runs out c.26 August, so we should be good.

[marknewton]

I ordered a Tramway ED71 from Hobbysearch on Friday July 31, and chose the DHL shipping option. The parcel arrived here in Sydney on Sunday about 1400. So far, so good. But now it's Wednesday and the tracking site tells me it might arrive by the end of the day on Friday. In the meantime it's apparently going on a little tour of DHL's "facilities". Seriously? I'm not that far from the airport - I can see it from my kitchen window.

 

I realise that we're in the middle of a pandemic, and that's disrupting normal life and all, but if this is the standard of service I can expect from DHL I'll be very happy when EMS is available again.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.
 

 

[Yavianice]

Meanwhile, I ordered something from RG-R with DHL shipping. It was shipped this morning, and arrived at my countries customs this evening. Probably the fastest I've ever seen a package moving. And it's not a small package either. 

[marknewton]

Now that it's in your country it'll be interesting to see how long it takes to make its way through DHL's facilities and arrive at your door.

 

According to the tracking site, my parcel has now made its way to the "Delivery Facility in NEW SOUTH WALES OUTLYING AREAS". Which is great, except I don't live in an outlying area of NSW. I live in Sydney, FFS.

 

Mark.

[Yavianice]

So, received the package from RG-R today already. I'm amazed. Normally packages take two weeks to get to me. I never had one arrive within a working day before. That's insane!

[marknewton]

Lucky you. I received a text message at 9:08am claiming that my package was "out for delivery". The tracking site made the same claim. It's now 9:19pm, the package hasn't appeared, and the information has disappeared from the tracking site. Perhaps it will be delivered tomorrow. I'm only 30 kms from the airport where it entered the country. 

 

Not at all impressed with DHL. 😤

 

Mark.

Edited August 6, 2020 by marknewton

[Cat]

6 hours ago, marknewton said:

Not at all impressed with DHL. 😤

 

Sounds like their performance varies a lot by country.  They're the best ones around here, usually 2 days Tokyo to my doorstep, 3 when they're running slow.

[chadbag]

RE: DHL

 

Speaking of delivery in the US:

 

In general, DHL from Japan is my favorite as it is here in 2 or 3 days tops.  Only once did something get misdirected, and it took an extra day or two.

 

DHL from Europe (at least Germany) is different.  DHL is owned by the Deutsche Post DHL group and they use "DHL" to also mean stuff carried by their "post oriented" parcel system.  I don't know the details but I think maybe that DHL handles the parcel inside Europe and then it gets put into the "postal system" for the transfer to the US and in the US it does not get delivered by the DHL guy, but by the US Postal Service.  Even though the sender claimed it was sent "DHL" (and there were indeed DHL markings on the package from the carrier).   Now, I suspect that there is a class of DHL service that runs on DHL planes (or their contracted planes) and gets delivered from Europe to the US fast and the DHL guy delivers locally, but everything I have had sent "DHL" from Germany was not fast and the end delivery was made by the post office, DHL on the package notwithstanding.  For delivery from Germany, I look for the sender using UPS, as that tends to be 3-4 days.  Since most of the German shops have a high flat rate shipping charge (27-35/40 Euro no matter the size), I prefer the ones that use UPS vs "DHL"

 

But even the one DHL from Japan that was misrouted and sent to the wrong city showed up faster than a typical EMS does from Japan to me (pre virus).

 

[roadstar_na6]

DHL in Germany is partner and parcel-company of the German Post. German Post is the privatized formerly state-run Bundespost.

Letters and uninsured parcels are handled by the Post, regular parcels are handled by DHL and are then given away to other national posting agencies like LaPoste, USPS or JapanPost when going abroad.

 

If you want your stuff shipped DHL the way it’s done elsewhere that‘d be "DHL Express Easy" in Germany.

 

Small parcels to the US through regular DHL service are around 15€ with some variable size restrictions (L+B+W=90cm and no side longer than 60cm) and a weight up to 2kg. Everything bigger can be shipped both regular and express:

"German" DHL to USA for a 5kg parcel 120x60x60cm: 37€

"Regular" DHL for the same parcel: 53€

The bigger and heavier the parcel gets the higher the price and the bigger the extra charge for Express handling.

Edited August 6, 2020 by roadstar_na6

[Yavianice]

2 hours ago, roadstar_na6 said:

If you want your stuff shipped DHL the way it’s done elsewhere that‘d be "DHL Express Easy" in Germany.

 

That's still a UPU service. Not a DHL Express service.

 

Only DHL Express uses the global DHL network. Prices of DHL Express are unaffordable for most people, usually companies get a reduced rate if they apply for it (which is how RG-R can keep their rates so low). The same goes for German packages.

 

With the DHL Express, your example package would cost 499 euro to ship from Germany to the U.S. as a consumer.

[roadstar_na6]

1 hour ago, Yavianice said:

That's still a UPU service. Not a DHL Express service.

I was mainly referring to the speed of it 😄 Express Easy states 2-3 days worldwide.

[Yavianice]

4 minutes ago, roadstar_na6 said:

I was mainly referring to the speed of it 😄 Express Easy states 2-3 days worldwide.

Source?

 

i only find 10-15 days to USA from Germany for DHL (non express)