SAL Shipping

[Kiha66]

1 hour ago, midoripeach9 said:

Hi. How long does it usually take? Mine's Reg SAL and it says " and item is still in Japan, it's been 6 weeks since then. I  tracked using my country's postal service and it says the same thing(item in Japan).

I'm still waiting, or should I ask my local post office (which is very troublesome right now)

 

Welcome to the forum midoripeach, usually to the US SAL takes about 2 to 4 weeks, but in the past few months it has slowed down to 1 to 2 months.  I had the same issue with over a month and a half of "dispatch from outward office of exchange".  This means it is waiting at the airport for space to be loaded onto a plane.  The reason SAL is a bit cheaper is that any EMS or other packages arriving will be put on before it.  It will probably show up in your country the next week or two, apparently there has been issues recently with the volume of packages being sent abroad.

[chadbag]

I will be posting some times but the "SAL Parcel", at least to the US, has been much faster than the "Registered SAL" has been, in most cases for me.  I have a bunch of each now to compare with.  

 

I've had things sit in "dispatch from outward office of exchange" for longer periods of time too but not for 6 weeks.  (To the US)

 

[cteno4]

This will vary by the country it’s going to as it will be based on how many flights to that country and how much extra cargo space is available. May also differed with contracts japan Post has with different airlines.

 

been pretty regular for me the last 6 months at 2-3 weeks sal w.o registered. I’ve stopped doing it as not needed as none have gone poof for me in 20 years. I’ve also heard rumor of customs slow ups now and then on the us end from our postal carrier that will effect sal as I’m sure it’s lower priority there as well.

 

jeff 

[midoripeach9]

Hi again. Thanks for the replies.

 

I'm in Asia. For another package I had delivered earlier, I used Reg SAL and shipped it to the US, that one took a month. For this one, I tried shipping directly to my house, and yeah it's been 6 weeks. I'm assuming there's just too many packages plus the fact that maybe there aren't much cargo space. I'll keep on tracking it with Japan's post service and my country's post service. When should I be worried tho? Just hoping my items are still OK. LOL Thanks again.

[cteno4]

Worst I have had to the us was like 6-7 weeks, a few club members here in dc had a couple at like 8-9 weeks. But mainly it’s 2-3 usually but once and a while one goes out to 4 weeks.

 

jeff

[midoripeach9]

5 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Worst I have had to the us was like 6-7 weeks, a few club members here in dc had a couple at like 8-9 weeks. But mainly it’s 2-3 usually but once and a while one goes out to 4 weeks.

 

jeff

 

Thanks. I suppose I should wait. Also, what does the status "Dispatch from outward office of exchange" mean? Someone from reddit said it means it already left Japan. However in the postal service's site it says "Prefecture: Tokyo" so that is a bit confusing

[bill937ca]

41 minutes ago, midoripeach9 said:

 

 Also, what does the status "Dispatch from outward office of exchange" mean? Someone from reddit said it means it already left Japan.

 

That means the parcel is in transit from Japan but hasn't arrived yet in your country or if it has arrived  hasn't been scanned yet. Many countries treat SAL as regular parcels.

 

[cteno4]

Yeah shipping sal to the us the two hold points are waiting for a plane in japan, then sitting in customs here, waiting to be processed and put into the us mail. Once in usmail it’s here in a couple of days. In japan sal stuff gets to the airport in a day or two to wait for space on a plane.

 

how fast the parcel gets to the airport in japan I think depends on the handling service the business uses to pickup packages and get them into the japan post system (I think some of these take it straight to a handling facility at the airport if memory serves me right).

 

jeff

[midoripeach9]

Okay thanks a lot everyone. Will wait for a couple of weeks before I go to my local post office

[Kiran]

I ordered 2 packages from hobby search and selected SAL parcel. Both of them show that they rae sitting in SFO somewhere. One of them since May 31st and the second since yesterday. I am only 30 miles south of SFO. So not sure why the package that arrived at SFO on May 31st has no update as yet. Should I call USPS to check what happened?

 

Thanks,

Kiran

[bill937ca]

SAL is non-priority shipping. Out of Japan it only gets available air cargo space.  SAL usually takes several weeks to arrive in North America. EMS has priority on cargo space and through customs. SAL does not.

[Kiha66]

Once they arrive at the "port of arrival" they are sent to the customs center for that area.  This is not a USPS facility so USPS will not be helpful in this case.  There are 6 of these facilities around the US and each one only has around 30 US border protection agents to scan and search packages, so if your package gets put into the random search lot it may take a while to get searched and sent on to USPS for final delivery.   It used to rather quick as most packages were just waved through, but with the ongoing drug crisis a larger amount of mail is being searched for illegally imported drugs.  Sadly USPS wont release your package early, so you just have to wait till it finally makes it through and is delivered at your house.  From my experience it shouldnt take more than a week for the package to be cleared and sent on, but once or twice I've had a package stuck for longer.  
https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/115/~/mail---processing-international-mail

Edited June 7, 2018 by Kiha66

[chadbag]

Once it gets to the US (and released by customs) it should be treated like any first class type package and should get to you reasonably fast, as long as USPS does not send it on a scenic tour of the US (which has happened to me).    Getting on the plane in Japan and to the US is the part that takes the longest.

[Kiran]

I seem to have gotten lucky on the Japan side. Both packages were loaded on to cargo within 5-6 days.

 

One of the packages was delivered today. It was just a train. This was shipped out on 5/25 and arrived in SFO CBP on 6/5. The other one was shipped on 5/23 and arrived at SFO on 5/31. It is still stuck there. I guess I just have to wait.

[katoftw]

Well SAL is suggested by Japan Post to be 2 to 5 weeks for delivery.  So you seem to be very close to the 14 days, so think yourself lucky.  As others wait 4 to 5 weeks continuously.

[cteno4]

Kiran,

SAL is usually at least 2 weeks these days. Seems to be about 2-3 weeks if you are near an entry port. Once and a while it goes up to 3-4 weeks but that’s been really rare for me with hundreds coming in. Here in dc it comes in to ny for customs and we have very fast mail here ten in the dc area as well, so a bit better than other places in the us.

 

sal is about patience, just get the surprise when it comes. Tracking it will just make it come slower, Murphy’s law of package shipping and bioling water. Ems gets rid of this wait, but you have to pay a lot for that. 

 

Cheers

 

jeff

[Kiran]

Hi Jeff, Definitely not paying for EMS. There are enough colleagues who travel back and forth between the bay area and Tokyo and I have asked a couple of those folks to carry stuff for me in the future. They are even scouring amazon.co.jp and other stores to find items cheaper.

[cteno4]

Kiran,

 

hats nice if you can get folks to carry stuff for you! Sal has worked well for me for like 20 years. It’s a bit slower these days with longer customs delays and some limiting of some air cargo, but still works great, almost always 2-3 weeks and never lost one in hundreds of packages. I don’t bother with the tracking as I’m sooo self insured now it’s not worth the $4 per package. The savings you get with the regular sal you will usually save $100-200 in ,Ike 8-10 boxes over ems, so you now have enough to cover your self (ie self insurance) if a package does go missing. After that with sal all the savings go into your pocket (or more likely into more trains).

 

the Ing is you have to be patient for this to work well. If you don’t have the patience or just have to know where the package is and when it will be to you then you gotta pay for that. To each his own.

 

i enjoy the wait, I try to just put a shipped package out of mind then it’s a nice little surprise when one shows up in the post! I quite enjoy that, tracking each step takes all the fun out of it for me, but that’s me.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Kiran]

20 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Kiran,

 

hats nice if you can get folks to carry stuff for you! Sal has worked well for me for like 20 years. It’s a bit slower these days with longer customs delays and some limiting of some air cargo, but still works great, almost always 2-3 weeks and never lost one in hundreds of packages. I don’t bother with the tracking as I’m sooo self insured now it’s not worth the $4 per package. The savings you get with the regular sal you will usually save $100-200 in ,Ike 8-10 boxes over ems, so you now have enough to cover your self (ie self insurance) if a package does go missing. After that with sal all the savings go into your pocket (or more likely into more trains).

 

the Ing is you have to be patient for this to work well. If you don’t have the patience or just have to know where the package is and when it will be to you then you gotta pay for that. To each his own.

 

i enjoy the wait, I try to just put a shipped package out of mind then it’s a nice little surprise when one shows up in the post! I quite enjoy that, tracking each step takes all the fun out of it for me, but that’s me.

 

cheers

 

jeff

I guess I am a little impatient as I still a beginner to this! But what you say makes total sense. For now though, I can't resist the temptation to look at the tracking status. I would like to make my double track with a turnout. Well can't do anything about it now. Traveling to DC for work this week. So even if it is delivered, I am not going to be able to enjoy it.

[Kiran]

So the other package status now shows "returned from import customs" as of last night. I am hoping that means it was returned from customs to USPS and not back to Japan or something!

[chadbag]

Wonder of all wonders.   A registered SAL type package.  I think it is a SAL.  It is a registered mail "economy" shipping from an eBay seller in Japan.  Delivered to the post office in Japan on Saturday.  Already in customs in LAX!

[katoftw]

Could be an e parcel.

[chadbag]

9 minutes ago, katoftw said:

Could be an e parcel.

 

In any case, the "registered mail" packages from Japan are usually really slow to the US.  In my informal survey and experience, slower than the non-registered, whether SAL or regular non EMS package service.

 

I have another eBay package from japan, listed as same sort of service "registered mail" on the Japan Post website that was delivered to the post office on Monday.  Let's see how fast that one hits US customs.

 

I am not complaining.   

 

[chadbag]

There are other ways to ship from Japan as well.  I got two packages yesterday.  One was a "SAL Small Packet", not tracked, from HS that took 16 days.

 

The other was from an eBay seller and was a "Small Packet Air Mail registered"  (not Registered SAL as far as I can tell -- SAL usually say "SAL" on them somewhere and this one didn't, but rather said "Registered Air Mail Small Packet") and it took  9 days from posting to delivery.

 

With HS (HobbySearch) you can send as "SAL Small Packet", "Registered SAL", "SAL Parcel", and "EMS".  All are trackable except the "SAL Small Packet".  In my experience the "Registered SAL" takes the longest (based on a bunch of shipments but not conclusive) but gives you a little piece of mind.

 

Other senders offer other methods.

 

BTW, when sending Amazon.co.jp outside Japan, Amazon will take the 8% consumption tax (sale tax) off the price, so you get an 8% discount vs buying from Amazon.co.jp and having it delivered inside Japan and then having them bring it back.  Depending on what it is, the shipping cost, and how much tax, it may not be worth it to have people bring back Amazon.co.jp stuff and just ship them.  Bulky stuff can get expensive for shipping, but smaller packages are not very expensive to ship and you get the tax advantage.

 

 

Edited June 20, 2018 by chadbag

[Gryphr]

I have been using "ePacket" or Air Small Packet if possible the last few times, these are available at several Shops too. They are pretty cheap and faster than registered SAL (Had one arrive in just 4-5 days recently). I'm not sure if/how they are related to (Registered-)SAL as I haven't found much clear info about them...