Japan Post suspended all shipments to ...

Non-oxidized tea
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Chip
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Wed Apr 22, 2020 2:55 pm

Add USA to the list!

Post your country's status here.

Kevin from O-cha has suspended all sales but is searching for alternatives.

I would expect most vendors will follow suit on both fronts

Not sure what will happen to shipments already enroute but still in Japan. I would think the packages would be returned to vendors.
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Bok
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Wed Apr 22, 2020 11:18 pm

Would be interesting to know if this is due to the situation getting out of hand on the US- or on the Japanese side? Japan's Virus is getting bad, as they covered it up and ignored it for too long for fear of having to cancel the Olympics...

If it's due to troubles on the US side, I expect Taiwan to follow suite very soon.
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Tor
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Thu Apr 23, 2020 1:16 am

I’m in Thailand. My recent orders from Japan, both EMS and SAL (or ePacket or JapanPost?, not sure), worked just fine so I believe it’s from US side.

My order from US from Mar 26 is still in oblivion.
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Chip
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Thu Apr 23, 2020 1:36 am

My understanding is that there are very few commercial flights from Japan to the US. Japan Post utilizes available cargo space on these flights.

This has been escalating for weeks. Most non EMS express packages have been put aside, and EMS packages were given top priority.

Perhaps something else happened, but my guess it just snowballed.

Japan Post suspended shipments to over 100 countries weeks ago including all of Europe.
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Chip
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Thu Apr 23, 2020 1:39 am

Having said that, at least some tea vendors in Japan are scrambling to find alternatives.

Kevin from O-cha just sent me a message indicating Yamato/UPS, "this will work." I am awaiting further confirmation.
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Bok
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Thu Apr 23, 2020 2:10 am

Chip wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 1:39 am
Having said that, at least some tea vendors in Japan are scrambling to find alternatives.

Kevin from O-cha just sent me a message indicating Yamato/UPS, "this will work." I am awaiting further confirmation.
DHL, Fedex etc. all still operate, but cost will likely double.
faj
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Thu Apr 23, 2020 5:41 am

Chip wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 1:36 am
My understanding is that there are very few commercial flights from Japan to the US. Japan Post utilizes available cargo space on these flights.
I find it kind of puzzling that states, while scrambling to inject incredible amounts of money to stimulate the economy, would not subsidize flights for freight. That would be a good way to prevent slowdowns in parts of the economy where there is still actual demand. It is not like there is a lack of available planes or pilots, right? Not finding a way to keep parcels moving seems like a good way to prevent willing parties from doing business at the worse possible time. There seems to be a lack of imagination here, or there is something I am missing...
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Bok
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Thu Apr 23, 2020 6:26 am

Who would have thought that lack of imagination could happen in such a competent and strategic thinking government with all the brightest minds of the country gathered in one space!

:)))
faj
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Thu Apr 23, 2020 7:28 am

Bok wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 6:26 am
Who would have thought that lack of imagination could happen in such a competent and strategic thinking government with all the brightest minds of the country gathered in one space!
Usually, people with a lot of money but lacking imagination are surrounded by other people with more imagination and less money which feed them with ideas on how to spend their fortune to maximize their power and prestige. Is that cynic enough for you? :mrgreen:

Surely, airlines have proposed chartering grounded planes to ensure a normal flow of items. No? Or are they going straight for the bailout money instead?
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S_B
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Thu Apr 23, 2020 11:28 am

Coming a little bit back onto the current situation topic - If anybody can find info regarding packages that have already made it to certain stages (example: I have an EMS package already processed through Tokyo INT, but that has not left outward office), please do share. I will of course happily report back as I'm sure others will on what happens to their current "in limbo" packages.
thetealetter
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Thu Apr 23, 2020 1:31 pm

Yunomi is shipping via DHL and passes the cost to the consumer, though it's a sliding scale based on cart size. ($25 at <$50, $15 at <$100, etc.).

Ocha & Co is subsidizing DHL and offering $10 flat rate up to I think 2kg.

Kettl are shipping free domestic from Brooklyn.

Ippodo has a US & CA store servicing those countries without interruption AFAICT.

Sazen are delivering via DHL and FedEx.

What a crazy time we live in. I had no idea so much freight was carried on commercial air traffic!
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S_B
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Thu Apr 23, 2020 5:15 pm

Here is a link to the Japan Post update

Along with the temporary suspension of goods, for the items that already have been accepted:
Substantial delays are expected for postal items that we continue to accept.

The items of mail we have accepted up to now will be shipped sequentially by the remaining air mail.However, for example, for EMS items of mail, it may take up to 4 months to ship the items with the current shipping volume. Expected. Therefore, if you wish to retrieve your mail, please contact the post office where the mail was sent.

We apologize for the inconvenience, but we kindly ask for your understanding and understanding in advance.
faj
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Thu Apr 23, 2020 6:44 pm

S_B wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 5:15 pm
However, for example, for EMS items of mail, it may take up to 4 months to ship the items with the current shipping volume.
We apologize for the inconvenience, but we kindly ask for your understanding and understanding in advance.
I am afraid they will not receive my understanding in advance. It might take up to 4 months.

Once again, I am amazed that too many planes being available is now somehow a justification for a huge, state-supported organization's inability to move air mail.
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S_B
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Thu Apr 23, 2020 10:10 pm

I am afraid they will not receive my understanding in advance. It might take up to 4 months.
What do you mean by that? I am in a similar boat...I am pretty sure that we just won't see those packages for a while. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll slip through, though!
faj
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Fri Apr 24, 2020 5:03 am

S_B wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 10:10 pm
I am afraid they will not receive my understanding in advance. It might take up to 4 months.
What do you mean by that?
It was just a silly play on words. The press releases is asking for customer's understanding "in advance" while announcing months in delays. That press release conveys the idea that they did not try very hard, so I am not in a hurray to give them my understanding.

Mail is an essential service in modern economies. Failure to get orders of tea and teapots is not really important. But mail services are also used to move a lot of stuff that is needed for essential parts of the economy. Just think of machine parts for instance. Where I work, we receive shipments from Asia and Europe every week, if not every day, to ensure the continued operation of our plant, and part of our output (well, for now, all of our output) is medical supplies. There seems to be no consideration given to the trickling effect of not getting mail to its destination.

When a service that normally brings parcels anywhere in the world in about a week announces months in delays, it amounts to shutting it down. So Japan is basically shutting down an essential service, just like that, without trying to give customers the impression that they tried to move heaven and earth before getting to that point, which they did not, because if they did, they could have found unused resources to do the job, no doubt about it, if maybe at higher cost than usual.
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