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

[Morcs]

Luckily i always use EMS anyway, looks like my latest order from HS is still in tokyo waiting for a plane.

[Yavianice]

RG Rokko mentioned to me today that ePacket Light is also a SAL service, but ePacket normal is not. So ePacket should still be permissible but ePacket Light services are cancelled for the time being.

[JR 500系]

My parcels are still sitting in Tokyo Narita... and I'm expecting an email soon telling me they had been returned to the seller... hopefully they don't go missing though... 

[Pauljag900]

Hope you re all safe and well here gents,and ladies of course👍👍😀

 

For what it’s worth I ordered some lights and trees from China via eBay and six weeks later they still have nt arrived,not that I m surprised or bothered under the circumstances.No big deal cost wise but sympathise totally for you guys buying trains.

i m only buying from the model shop I use about 80 miles away from where I live,I order today and it arrives next morning,I m not ordering from abroad.

 

[Cat]

We recently received some Outlands buildings from China via EBay; they came through quickly.  Another single building from another seller is marked as shipped, and still within its estimated arrival of 13 April to 7 May.

There's a big train store a half mile walk from home, Charles Ro.  Alas, they are classified as a non-essential business and closed by the Governor's statewide order at least until Star Wars Day, May the Fourth.  Their big specialty is Lionel trains.  They carry very little N gauge and with just a few bits of Japanese image.  So, we only go there for a few odds and ends of modelling supplies.

[cteno4]

I’ve had cheap ebay stuff from China that comes a number of different routes (trans shipped thru all sorts of countries on some) and the majority have been coming on usual 3-5 week time frame over the last few months right up to this week. A few have come very fast and a few are a little overdue at 8 weeks, but all in all with all the flights chances I’m amazed it’s not been wayyy worse. Many times larger packages (I mean above like 4”x6”x1” and weighing over a few ounces will take longer thur the usual Chinese slow shipping.

 

aliexpress faster China air and alipost shipping options (each seller has a different set of shipping options with time estimates) do seem to come quicker usually at around Sal rate of 2 weeks. 

 

jeff

[Socimi]

16 hours ago, JR 500系 said:

My parcels are still sitting in Tokyo Narita... and I'm expecting an email soon telling me they had been returned to the seller... hopefully they don't go missing though... 

 

Mine too... fingers crossed...

[railsquid]

FYI a state of emergency declaration is expected for tomorrow (Tuesday), which may or may not impact things even more.

[bill937ca]

Plaza Japan update:

 

Corona Virus Situation: Due to the decreased number of commercial flights leaving Japan, there are delays in International shipment and we will temporarily close our store until the situation gets back to normal.

 

https://www.ebay.com/str/plazajapan?_dmd=1&rt=nc

[Morcs]

I have an EMS shipment from HS that has been at the outbound depot in Tokyo for 2 weeks.

Do you think there is a chance HS would be able to organise it returned to them as I'd like to add/change this order, or would it have gone through customs etc  and it's too late?

I have emailed them to ask.

[Yavianice]

23 minutes ago, Morcs said:

I have an EMS shipment from HS that has been at the outbound depot in Tokyo for 2 weeks.

Do you think there is a chance HS would be able to organise it returned to them as I'd like to add/change this order, or would it have gone through customs etc  and it's too late?

I have emailed them to ask.

As soon as any shipment leaves the hands of your supplier, then they can't do anything about it.

 

EMS will be returned only if your country no longer accepts EMS shipments from japan.

[Yavianice]

April 10 Updates:

 

• Japan Post has expanded the list of countries with EMS/SAL/EPacket exclusions.
• Japan Post warns for excessive delays for shipments to the United States. Expect 2 weeks or more before an item is shipped from Japan Port of Departure -> U.S. Port of Entry.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Yavianice

[The Next Station Is...]

I had a preorder for Rokuhan's 500 Type Eva Z-Shorty with Amiami, which shipped via SAL late March and when I found out about the suspension on 3rd April, still hadn't appeared to have left Japan but it turned up on the 8th in the UK. Must have squeaked through on one of the last flights to carry SAL cargo. I thought I wasn't going to see it for quite a while! 

[nah00]

12 hours ago, Yavianice said:

Japan Post warns for excessive delays for shipments to the United States. Expect 2 weeks or more before an item is shipped from Japan Port of Departure -> U.S. Port of Entry.

 

This might sound like a stupid question, but is this due to just the overall lack of flights or are ports of departure/entry letting packages sit for a while just to further minimize the chance of nasties hanging around on/in the parcel? I know it can't survive long on paper/cardboard or anything porous but is that a consideration? Or is it that they have fewer than normal workers at both ends to allow for distancing? Either way it doesn't bother me, there are far more important things that need to be shipped than yet another locomotive for me. 

[bill937ca]

43 minutes ago, nah00 said:

 

This might sound like a stupid question, but is this due to just the overall lack of flights or are ports of departure/entry letting packages sit for a while just to further minimize the chance of nasties hanging around on/in the parcel? I know it can't survive long on paper/cardboard or anything porous but is that a consideration? Or is it that they have fewer than normal workers at both ends to allow for distancing? Either way it doesn't bother me, there are far more important things that need to be shipped than yet another locomotive for me. 

 

Plaza Japan sites lack of flights.  Also some vendors are holding non-EMS shipments until this situation is resolved.  The Japanese  way of thinking may still  be a few weeks. Elsewhere I think the short term outlook is not so positive. 

 

This virus does survive on cardboard for at least 24 hours.

 

According to the New England Journal of Medicine, the virus can live on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days.

See below for a list of different settings and surfaces, and how long you can expect the novel coronavirus to live on them for, based on existing research from the New England Journal of Medicine and government agencies:

 

COMMON SURFACES

- Cardboard: On cardboard, the virus responsible for causing COVID-19 had a lifespan of about 24 hours.

- Copper: The novel coronavirus was able to live on a copper surface for up to four hours. Copper is known to be a natural antimicrobial with disinfecting properties.

- Plastic: The novel coronavirus was discovered on plastic up to 72 hours after being applied.

- Stainless Steel: The strain of the virus responsible for causing COVID-19 was detected up to 72 hours after being applied to a stainless steel surface.

 

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/how-long-can-the-novel-coronavirus-live-on-different-surfaces-1.4880097

 

 

[roadstar_na6]

Interestingly I got one of my parcels from ZenMarket today only one week after shipping it out. Others I dispatched earlier are still on their way tho.

A SAL parcel from HLJ I sent out before the lockdown is still somewhere in postal handling 😞

[Yavianice]

It's probably being returned then. Mine was at the airport 5 days before the lockdown, but still ended up being sent back. Thanks to RG Rokko it's immediately re-shipped with ePacket 😃

[nah00]

I have a SAL parcel from HS that made it to the post office on 3/30 according to Japan Post. I wonder if it'll get sent back, there haven't been any further updates to tracking other than 'Posting/Collection' at Asakusa that day.  

[Yavianice]

Will probably be sent back. Like I wrote it should have left the Japan Port of Departure, not just be in the hands of Japan Post. So already be past customs and on the plane by April 2nd. On the USPS site it usually is designated as "Origin is preparing shipment".

[roadstar_na6]

Mine was sent out March 19th and I didn‘t get any notice about it coming back to HLJ

[Socimi]

Mine arrived on march 22nd and it's still there, according to the Japan Post website.

[roadstar_na6]

I also have a few that have the status of being dispatched from the outward office. One was dispatched March 29 and arrived at the inward office today. Now only two parcels I sent out after that one that arrived in Germany today are still marked as being dispatched in Osaka. I guess we‘ll see what‘ll happen with them.

The one I received today was marked as having left the inward office and customs 5h before it got delivered to my door.

[Welshbloke]

I'm guessing Hobbysearch are just holding orders at their warehouse until they can post them. I was billed for the Hokutosei pack on the release date but no dispatch email since. Can't think of many safer places for it to wait for services to resume though.

 

It must be getting rather like the basement of one of my local model shops (think Pac-Man with cases of models they bought in bulk and haven't needed to open yet in place of the maze walls!)

[Cat]

Yes, HobbySearch is holding goods, and also searching other alternatives.  It will be great if they get on board with FedEx, that's a much better price option than EMS in good times too. 

Unfortunately, they were slow on fulfilling the order I tried to get in under the wire a couple of weeks ago.  Rather than shipping what was in stock as I had checked, they waited for a few items that were temporarily out of stock, and we missed the shipping window, drat.

 

"We are currently investigating possibility of alternative shipping
options, but for the time being, your orders will be paused and
we will proceed with the shipment once this shipping suspension
has been lifted."

Plaza Japan shipped our last order on 1 April, before they closed down for the duration.  If the package caught a flight it should arrive this week or next.  Since they use EBay as their vending portal, they would risk too many bad reviews and chargebacks if they can't ship, so it makes sense that they had do shutter the doors until there are more regular flights. 

[ranger10178]

I'm guessing I'll be waiting quite some time for my two orders from Plaza Japan - as they ship using SAL...