Well...my last post was a cute one about how I got a sponge when Japan Post messed up. A sponge won't cut it this time!
So today I woke up and while drinking coffee I browsed the Etsy forums. Thank God I did. Another seller in Japan had posted something about Japan post not shipping any package over 453 grams (1 lb) via airmail to the States starting tomorrow. WHAT?!
We called Japan post and the lady I spoke with said that the American government asked the airline companies not to carry any package that weighed more than 1 lb. That means all packages that weigh more than 1 lb must be sent via seamail. Now I asked the lady if she wasn't mistaken because all I could see on the Internet was that only ink cartridges weighing more than 453 grams were banned due to the terror plot. She said no...ALL packages.
So..I quickly rushed down to the office to pack up a few packages that I knew were over that weight. Then we rushed to the post office to mail them off. The guy at the post office said the same thing to me.
So...I then went on the etsy forums again...funny...only Japanese sellers were complaining of this. Some sellers from Canada and the UK said that only the ink cartridges weighing more than 453 grams were banned. Hmmm....
Now...Japan post is a big company and I usually assume that big companies have people who speak different languages but I'm guessing that somewhere along the line something was drastically misunderstood because there is a huge difference between 1 kind of package being banned and ALL packages being banned!!!
So....at this point it looks like Japan Post just decided that ALL packages going to the United States that weigh more than 453 grams are banned. WTH???
To all our American customers:
From November 16th, any orders weighing over 453 grams (1 lb) will not be able to be shipped airmail, EMS or SAL. If possible, we will try to divide the order into 2 (perhaps more) to send them airmail but if isn't possible we will be in touch and discuss sending it seamail or refunding your money. We are so sorry about this but there is nothing we can do. We will update this as we find out more. Hopefully it won't last long. And ... you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be phoning and complaining!
So...in this case a sponge will not be enough to say sorry for all the inconvenience this is causing us and our customers!
9 comments:
UGH- what a PAIN for you!! I sure hope you get it worked out before Christmas!! Taking the pictures and figuring out postage are the things I hate the most regarding my etsy shop!!!!
Good luck!!
~cm
Hi Chinamommy...Thanks for wishing us good luck! Iit is so unbelievable. I was mad but I figured if all countries had to do this then so be it but it turns out only to be Japan doing this?!! I'm beyond angry. And etsy shipping isn't our problem...our yahoo store is the real issue...bento boxes, heavy pillows etc. UGH!
Sorry to hear that. I didn't know the news. It's indeed frustrating, is it? Maybe Japan Post gets so frustrated too.If the bombing is what the US is concerned about, they should check the contents over 1 lb are "not"ink cartridges. Don't you think so? It seems to me that the States is asking the difficulty to many other countries, which sounds so unfair. If the US takes it so seriously, we can't do anything about this, I'm afraid. Yet at this time of the Christmas season, I do hope things will be better.
Wow, I'm completely bewildered! I can't believe now this happening... And I'm concerned if the US is gonna start asking that from other countries, cause if so, I will have to send various packages to my SIL in the US with the Christmas presents!
Yeah, stinky JP. I live in the US and this will really put a dent in JRock shipping from non-commercial sellers.
Apparently FedEx and other international shippers are fine, though. Here is a US Anime retailer's blog that explains it a little better: http://animecornerstore.blogspot.com/2010/11/japan-post-suspends-air-parcel-shipment.html
I hope that this is just temporary, but who knows :(
(I LOVE your blog, by the way ^_^)
The problem with Fed-ex and couriers is price for one plus the buyer has to pay a "brokerage" fee which is why we never buy from a company that only uses Fed-ex.
There is a business account option but it takes 1 month to be accepted and while we are pretty sure we qualify, we have to give them some collateral...such as stock or money that equals 2x the amount we spend on shipping per month (so that equals thousands of dollars well...actually hundreds of thousands of Yen). We are thinking about doing this but it will take time. For a lot of small businesses (like some Etsy sellers) in Japan they aren't registered with the government and so they wouldn't be allowed to do this.
Oh and I read that New Zealand, Croatia and other countries will be doing it as well.
Oh and I forgot to mention that if the package is over $100 usd and it is being shipped via Fed ex I would require the Social Security number from my customer...yeah...I don't think so!
Ah. Shipping is so complicated, ugh(>_<)...
*groans* Way to do it right before Christmas, America!
I hope things can go smoothly for you and others, I really do ^_^
That is the most bizarre thing. There is such an over reaction to things in the US. All this big bruhaha over the full body scans (I just went to SF & back to SEA and didn't have one in the Intl gates - Virgin America flies out of them). I wouldn't care about a full body scan either - like my body is any different than anyone elses? Looks like it might be easier to just mail a large package to someone in the US or CAN and have them mail out the individual packages.
I didn't even know that there was surface mail anymore for packages.
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