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It’s not purely the cost of shipping. My PP invoice from Nakayaheiji to ship one knife says: “Freight to USA is 5460 JPY. Fee to ship out to over sea countries is 1500”.

FWIW Shibata/Knife Gallery charged me 4000 JPY to ship 3 knives, so Heiji’s shipping cost is obviously on the higher side… But I’m not going to quibble over such a small amount (~20 USD) — especially since the knife itself was very fairly priced.

TRPV4 said:
If you want to save on shipping you can use a parcel forwarder and provide the knifemaker with a japanese address. Local shipping ~¥1000
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What does the forwarder usually charge to ship to the US?
 
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deskjockey said:
The US taxpayer is essentially subsidizing Amazon because the taxpayer covers USPS losses. 🤬
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I don't want to risk saying something political. So I will just talk about the law. The Post Office is legally required by Congressional statute to only use revenue to cover it's expenses. No taxpayer funds support the post office. The Post Office and the Post Office alone is required to cover their losses if they run at a deficit. There are a number of other falsehoods and exaggerations in the rambling nonsense above. But let's just say that the financial problems of the USPS don't have much to do with the contracts they have with Amazon or other retailers.

Amazon doesn't have last mile capabilities in sparsely populated areas. So in some ways city folks subsidize rural folks ability to get packages from Amazon. But the USPS is just doing what they are legally required to do. Provide mail service to everyone. Amazon is doing what they do, trying to get as many people to use their services as they can. Bulk customers get discounted rates. That's the way our entire financial system works. In this case Amazon and American taxpayers both get to enjoy cheaper shipping and the one left holding the bag if something goes wrong, legally, not politically speaking is former employees who worked for decades for a pension.

If the USPS simply raised it's rates until they were profitable it would make sending a parcel through any service in this country much much more expensive. There are legislative and political fixes that could be made at the Congressional level to make them more solvent. But we shouldn't talk about that here. Just had to point out a couple completely non-political legal facts about the laws that govern how the Post Office functions.
 
@dehory just an example for a box with capacity to 1-2 knives, using Blackship:
 

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stringer said:
I don't want to risk saying something political. So I will just talk about the law. The Post Office is legally required by Congressional statute to only use revenue to cover it's expenses. No taxpayer funds support the post office. The Post Office and the Post Office alone is required to cover their losses if they run at a deficit. There are a number of other falsehoods and exaggerations in the rambling nonsense above. But let's just say that the financial problems of the USPS don't have much to do with the contracts they have with Amazon or other retailers.

Amazon doesn't have last mile capabilities in sparsely populated areas. So in some ways city folks subsidize rural folks ability to get packages from Amazon. But the USPS is just doing what they are legally required to do. Provide mail service to everyone. Amazon is doing what they do, trying to get as many people to use their services as they can. Bulk customers get discounted rates. That's the way our entire financial system works. In this case Amazon and American taxpayers both get to enjoy cheaper shipping and the one left holding the bag if something goes wrong, legally, not politically speaking is former employees who worked for decades for a pension.

If the USPS simply raised it's rates until they were profitable it would make sending a parcel through any service in this country much much more expensive. There are legislative and political fixes that could be made at the Congressional level to make them more solvent. But we shouldn't talk about that here. Just had to point out a couple completely non-political legal facts about the laws that govern how the Post Office functions.
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The contracts are public records so, they can be researched. My experience as a USPS employee delivering Amazon packages is what it was. My wages were not covered by the postage on those packages and that also doesn't account for the vehicle expenses either on any Sunday I worked. My route was 137 miles on that route in a vehicle that got about 10MPG too.

The cost of delivery didn't match what was collected on the packages in any way you care to characterize it. If urban postal customers are subsidizing Amazon deliveries to rural customers, it is still for the benefit of Amazon, not the postal customers. Amazon should pay what it costs to deliver their packages, PERIOD! Subsidizing a successful company like Amazon through the USPS is wrong to me.

The head of the Post Office is a political appointment so, politics and policies are a factor. If you worked there, or at least at my office, I think you would have a hard time not seeing the politics of Amazon deliveries. Union politics at the Post Office are a whole different topic and outside of the Amazon subsidies for "last mile deliveries in rural areas."

Was my >$40 shipping quote really $40 or was it $20 with $20 for Amazon delivery subsidies?

Checking out on this topic so I don't derail it.
 
Choppin said:
@dehory just an example for a box with capacity to 1-2 knives, using Blackship:
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Those rates from FedEx and DHL look better than mine around October for my package. UPS was also consistent with FedEx for me. Maybe rates are coming down a bit from my pre-Christmas quotes.
 
deskjockey said:
Those rates from FedEx and DHL look better than mine around October for my package. UPS was also consistent with FedEx for me. Maybe rates are coming down a bit from my pre-Christmas quotes.
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I guess they get good rates because of the high number of packages they ship (commercial agreement with courriers)?

Anyway I find it specially useful to combine packages from different vendors and ship them together to the US. Like order from Watanabe and Heiji to the forwarded’s address in Japan and then ship one package to the US. There is a small fee for that but I believe it’s like 5 bucks or less.
 
Choppin said:
I guess they get good rates because of the high number of packages they ship (commercial agreement with courriers)?

Anyway I find it specially useful to combine packages from different vendors and ship them together to the US. Like order from Watanabe and Heiji to the forwarded’s address in Japan and then ship one package to the US. There is a small fee for that but I believe it’s like 5 bucks or less.
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My Aliexpress orders work like that. They ship in bulk from China but, the final "mile" is all USA based once the bulk order is broken out into individual orders. I have had Chinese products shipped to me from Kentucky, California, and New Jersey. I have also gotten a few bubble envelopes shipped direct from China occasionally too.
 
Yamabushi said:
Just go an update from Nakayaheiji-san that my knife (250mm carbon gyuto) is ready! Here's the photo he sent me. Will follow up here once I receive it.
View attachment 224208
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Ha! I just got an update, too! Looks like our knives will be traveling together.
DSCN7182.JPG

(210 carbon and an extra tall 240 carbon)
 
Haha! Great news, congrats! That being said, mine will likely have a much shorter travel distance as I live in central Tokyo just a few hours away from Ibaraki where Nakayaheiji is based. Hopefully, I'll have my new knife the day after tomorrow.

Your knives look great, BTW! They semi-stainless? Mine's carbon, but I am more impacted by what looks to me more like a KS profile and tip on mine!
 
Congrats to you, too! Yours is gorgeous.

Mine are both carbon like yours. I've wanted to try his Swedish steel for a while now and the insane dollar/yen exchange rate tipped me over the edge so I ordered those.

Let us know when you get yours and how you like it!
 
Cheers mate! They told me mine is the first they've done with an unburnt chestnut handle. I'm looking forward to seeing it in person!
 
deskjockey said:
The contracts are public records so, they can be researched. My experience as a USPS employee delivering Amazon packages is what it was. My wages were not covered by the postage on those packages and that also doesn't account for the vehicle expenses either on any Sunday I worked. My route was 137 miles on that route in a vehicle that got about 10MPG too.

The cost of delivery didn't match what was collected on the packages in any way you care to characterize it. If urban postal customers are subsidizing Amazon deliveries to rural customers, it is still for the benefit of Amazon, not the postal customers. Amazon should pay what it costs to deliver their packages, PERIOD! Subsidizing a successful company like Amazon through the USPS is wrong to me.

The head of the Post Office is a political appointment so, politics and policies are a factor. If you worked there, or at least at my office, I think you would have a hard time not seeing the politics of Amazon deliveries. Union politics at the Post Office are a whole different topic and outside of the Amazon subsidies for "last mile deliveries in rural areas."

Was my >$40 shipping quote really $40 or was it $20 with $20 for Amazon delivery subsidies?

Checking out on this topic so I don't derail it.
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I don't think this refutes what he said FWIW. There are many layers to it and you have to look at the bigger picture i.e. you may end up driving the same miles even with 0 Amazon packages. Maybe not, but maybe USPS needs to take a loss on this route to make a profit on other denser routes, same as any business would weigh it. Same way grocery stores don't make money on milk and eggs but make it up in selling steaks etc, but it wouldn't make sense for them to stop selling eggs/milk just because they don't make money on them

Back on topic: Isamitsu told me DHL shipping would be 50,000 yen (yes, no typo) because of their lower volume.
 
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Having done some delivery work in the past... I think most companies essentially cross-subsidize the rural deliveries with the urban deliveries. There's almost invariably a flat fee for a larger region (in the Netherlands usually for the entire country), and someone did the math so that the bottomline is still positive.
Especially in the US, if they started charging more for rural deliveries that'd be a political minefield.

I can't speak for other countries, but Dutch supermarkets are certainly not selling their milk and eggs without a profit. It's actually one of their moneymakers, together with all the other fresh produce, fruits, vegetables, meats and all the other stuff that people will buy regardless. Over here the loss-leader is usually the junkfood / brandname stuff. Because apparently it makes sense for the stuff that's actually healthy to be the most expensive... :rolleyes:
 
superworrier said:
I don't think this refutes what he said FWIW. There are many layers to it and you have to look at the bigger picture i.e. you may end up driving the same miles even with 0 Amazon packages. Maybe not, but maybe USPS needs to take a loss on this route to make a profit on other denser routes, same as any business would weigh it. Same way grocery stores don't make money on milk and eggs but make it up in selling steaks etc, but it wouldn't make sense for them to stop selling eggs/milk just because they don't make money on them

Back on topic: Isamitsu told me DHL shipping would be 50,000 yen (yes, no typo) because of their lower volume.
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I get loss leaders in grocery stores and similar places. USPS isn't remotely like a grocery store in its business model.
 
Jovidah said:
Having done some delivery work in the past... I think most companies essentially cross-subsidize the rural deliveries with the urban deliveries. There's almost invariably a flat fee for a larger region (in the Netherlands usually for the entire country), and someone did the math so that the bottomline is still positive.
Especially in the US, if they started charging more for rural deliveries that'd be a political minefield.

I can't speak for other countries, but Dutch supermarkets are certainly not selling their milk and eggs without a profit. It's actually one of their moneymakers, together with all the other fresh produce, fruits, vegetables, meats and all the other stuff that people will buy regardless. Over here the loss-leader is usually the junkfood / brandname stuff. Because apparently it makes sense for the stuff that's actually healthy to be the most expensive... :rolleyes:
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Grocery stores and food in general in the Netherlands and Germany is fundamentally different than most of the USA options. To be honest, food quality in Europe is substantially better overall than similar retail operations where I have lived in the USA.

When the Green Herring runs start at the Saturday markets, think of me! My family and friends thought I was crazy eating them! I still remember the taste of the seawater on their yummy little bodies, head, fins, and all! Adult candy if you ask me; they were that good by the Church in the market in the Northern part of the Netherlands.

Unrefrigerated eggs were another thing that freaked out my American friends since they had never seen an egg for sale not in a cold case. They also have never seen a live chicken in person either.
 
MrHiggins said:
Yeah, he charged me for a 270 (around $325 with the exchange rate, if I remember correctly). It's 55mm at the heel, so I'm pretty pleased. Can't wait to get it!
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I see, he charged me the same, 270 price for a tall 255 gyuto. I hope you'll enjoy yours, the finish on your samples looks better than the Heiji pictures I saw from a few years back.
 
My new Heiji gyuto arrived this morning, and I have to say I am extremely happy! The new knife, pictured on the left is 265mm carbon steel, 53mm tall featuring Heiji's first unburnt chestnut handle he's done. You can compare that to my old 250mm semi-stainless Heiji gyuto on the right. For the record my old knife has been a terrific performer in every way for nearly a decade. Clearly, the profile of the new knife is significantly different than my older knife, note much flatter belly and shape of the tip.
IMG_20230209_115315.jpg
 
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