Ordering directly from Japan in current climate

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You guys are so lucky.. in Israel, every package valued over $75 is charged 17% VAT. Some items, like electronics will be charged an extra 33% (!!!) of the order value (they also calculate shipping costs in the total).
When using DHL, or any other private courier, an extra 3-10% will be charged, depending on their mood the same day.
I ordered a Yuki 210mm from knifewear in January using UPS, they charged an extra 30% just cause they could, the bastards.
 
Recently had a package arrive via express AUSpost in 5 business days... don’t know if I got lucky here but my last shipment from Australia took a month and a half. Thought I’d share...
 
I still have a knife stuck in Chicago, from Sweden, USPS, has been there since May 1st. Hope I get it some day.
 
NY ISC is sucking at the moment. Got a package from Spain stuck there for over a month on top of the month it took to get to ISC
 
Bummer. My last cleared SF customs in one day. I was blown away.
 
A friend who recently sent me something from Japan (but to an Asian country) said his EMS package went out, but stick in Tokyo post office for 7-10 days.
 
We've got almost no air traffic into/out of Australia currently due to the lockdown (or whatever you want to call it) so most things are now travelling to/from the country via sea, which means you have to wait for enough things to fill the containers to be worth the trip. As a result, you can either be really lucky by having the package lob just as they're ready to ship, or be really unlucky if you just miss a shipment. Either way, the old timeframes have been punted out the window pretty vigorously.

In general, once stuff is in country AusPost/couriers are not too bad, especially when you consider how much internal courier traffic has increased. My (really great) AusPost driver has been working 15hrs/day, six days/week for months, except for a couple of weeks a month or so ago when it slacked off, but the international connection is where the massive bottleneck (potentially) raises its rather ugly head.
 
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juice said:
We've got almost no air traffic into/out of Australia currently due to the lockdown (or whatever you want to call it) so most things are now travelling to/from the country via sea, which means you have to wait for enough things to fill the containers to be worth the trip. As a result, you can either be really lucky by having the package lob just as they're ready to ship, or be really unlucky if you just miss a shipment. Either way, the old timeframes have been punted out the window pretty vigorously.

In general, once stuff is in country AusPost/couriers are not too bad, especially when you consider how much internal courier traffic has increased. My (really great) AusPost driver has been working 15hrs/day, six days/week for months, except for a couple of weeks a month or so ago when it slacked off, but the international connection is where the massive bottleneck (potentially) raises its rather ugly head.
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You're postal system knew slightly more about a knife sent from your country to me. So at least you don't have the USPS 😔
 
Did made several international orders in the last month from Australia, Canada, Japan, US (living in Germany).

To be safe, only chose the more expensive shipping options, mostly DHL Express or Fedex, UPS once. Never had a problems.

While "normal" national packages with the standard logistics were a nightmare over here in the last couple of month...

Good example: ordered a knife from Tosho 3 days back and a package from a german company (based approx. 400km from here) about 1,5 weeks ago. Tosho (DHL Express) arrived yesterday, the other one (DHL) hasn't arrived yet...
 
M1k3 said:
You're postal system knew slightly more about a knife sent from your country to me. So at least you don't have the USPS
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It's held up far better than I expected, TBH. And the package load was made (considerably) worse by one of our major courier companies (TOLL) shutting down for several weeks ( a couple of times) as a result of what I was told was a ransomware attack that buggered their computer systems.

I haven't had anything go missing yet, although scanning is VERY hit and miss, so keeping track of stuff is all over the shop. My wife has a LOT of package traffic in both directions, and so far it's been reliable, although as mentioned, timeframes are ... unpredictable, even internally simply because of the huge increase in package numbers.

Bad as our systems/situation are, they still seem to be ahead of the US, but it's hard to tell for sure. Either way, I'm surprised the boat hasn't sprung more leaks, indeed.
 
Sounds better than USPS saying a package has been delivered but wasn't. Aus Post said delivery failed, redelivery the next day. Which happened.
 
M1k3 said:
Sounds better than USPS saying a package has been delivered but wasn't. Aus Post said delivery failed, redelivery the next day. Which happened.
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Yeah, or it gets left at the local post office, and can then be picked up with some photo ID. Having said that, most packages down (of value, like when I ship camera lenses, audio gear, and so on) here are shipped with "must sign" which stops stuff going missing, but mail fraud has never been a real issue here anyway, it's just that stuff gets lost - falls off conveyors, out of vans, etc..
 
My daughter works for USPS in Baltimore. She’s working six days a week, because she complained that she needed at least ONE day off. Her orientation was 28 consecutive days.
 
BillHanna said:
My daughter works for USPS in Baltimore. She’s working six days a week, because she complained that she needed at least ONE day off. Her orientation was 28 consecutive days.
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Yeah, our parcel delivery guy (my wife works from home, and we get a lot of augmented communications gear for people with disabilities through here) has been working six days a week, usually 15+ hours a day for months (except for a 2-3 week break a few weeks ago where he was down to 10-12 hours, but then we went back to stage 3 lockdown). He had Easter Friday and Sunday off, but worked Saturday and the Monday public holiday. And that's AFTER Australia Post put on more people. It's nuts.
 
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chiffonodd said:
Just ordered a knife off JCK a couple days ago, shipped via DHL Express ($10) from Nagoya and is already stateside in Cincinnati waiting to be routed to Seattle. Should be here Monday. Not too bad!
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Update: this actually arrived yesterday, way ahead of schedule. Ordered on the 27th, arrived on the 30th. Nagoya > Seattle, three day delivery for $10 DHL Express.
 
I ordered a denka directly from TF in June and yes they are charging ridiculous 7,000 yen for the DHL, so I’m just waiting until Japan post starts to ship to US. I’m not saying 7000 cannot be justified. It just reminds me of Apple putting a 5v1A charger in the box of a $1,000+ phone.
 
I have a friend who has a package shipping from Japan Post via sea freight. Surprisingly, there was no delay in sending it (meaning time to send out of Japan, not to arrive at the destination) out from the port, unlike packages sent by air.
 
josemartinlopez said:
I have a friend who has a package shipping from Japan Post via sea freight. Surprisingly, there was no delay in sending it (meaning time to send out of Japan, not to arrive at the destination) out from the port, unlike packages sent by air.
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Seriously, have you considered answering any of the (MANY) actual knife questions from the last few days rather than just the inconsequential ones about freight?
 
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