Shipping Delays on tea

faj
Posts: 710
Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:45 am
Location: Quebec

Fri May 08, 2020 8:16 am

One month after being picked up, my EMS package from Japan has finally been marked as shipped out of the country. Hopefully it does not get stuck upon arrival. I have another order I made this week, which I hope fares better...
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TeaTotaling
Posts: 519
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2020 3:08 pm
Location: Ohio

Sat May 16, 2020 9:21 am

klepto wrote:
Wed May 06, 2020 6:31 pm
TeaTotaling wrote:
Wed May 06, 2020 6:06 pm
klepto wrote:
Wed May 06, 2020 5:52 pm


I have a yixing teapot I bought from CP, and they are shipping it from Malaysia as soon as things open up there. :(
Shipping was supposed to resume in Malaysia on 4/28...guess that didn't happen. Still no word from CP... I did receive an order from Taiwan, rather speedily. I guess it just depends. As long as everything arrives safe and sound, I am in no immediate rush.

I read somewhere online that it won't resume until middle of this month but I'm not 100%. Lol, yah we both have some teapots coming from them.
Shipping up and running in Malaysia!!
faj
Posts: 710
Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:45 am
Location: Quebec

Tue May 26, 2020 2:36 pm

Today, I received an order that was shipped from Japan to Canada on April 9. Service was EMS, which in normal times would have taken one week total, I would say.

The tracking indicates it took 1 month for the package to leave Japan after pickup, 12 days to arrive to Canada (that was a long flight), and one more week to go through customs and reach me. I have another EMS package on the way, still in Japan after more than 2 weeks. Seems to be on track for the same kind of experience. I do not think DHL to Canada was an option in both cases, unfortunately, at least not at the time I ordered.

I have something else on the way coming from China, shipped a month ago. Holding my breath I am not.
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Balthazar
Posts: 706
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:04 am
Location: Oslo, Norway

Thu May 28, 2020 6:10 am

Any news on when Japan might loosen the restrictions?

I've been lucky with China. Two EMS packages were received in less than a month. A third one, from JD.com, arrived in two weeks, but it was shipped through Hong Kong (at which point Fedex took over, so no surprise there).

As for Malaysia, not much has been happening with my package that was shipped on April 17. Latest update (May 20) says it arrived at the export terminal, so it might be arriving soon.
Rmt
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2020 11:53 am
Location: Northern Norway

Thu May 28, 2020 7:10 am

Got some teacups and a hucheng i ordered in mid march yesterday! Marked as shipped 19th of March from shanghai. Long wait but they got here in one piece.

Let’s see how long the wuyiorigin tea shipment marked as shipped 23 May will take...
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debunix
Posts: 1812
Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2017 1:27 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Wed Jun 17, 2020 8:51 pm

Today I received my spring subscription tea shipment from Obubu Tea Farm in Japan. I don't think any of the tea in it formally counts as Shincha, but it does include some sencha. It was shipped from Wazuka, Kyoto on 23 March.

I guess I won't expect to see my additional order of matcha and gyokuros, ordered mid-April, until July. Fortunately, I'm not running low on those now.
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eon-pu
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2020 8:07 am

Wed Jan 27, 2021 8:24 pm

For those ordering from Japan or China, my humble recommendation would be to go with DHL. Simply excellent service and tracking. I've received two separate Japanese pots to the US in mere two days. Cakes from Yunnan Sourcing (China) took less than a week. $35-45 might feel expensive but given the price of the items, it is really not exorbitant.

My China Post EMS orders have been all over the place, with an average wait time of just under two months. I am generally ok waiting, but after losing one pricey parcel for good, it just doesn't feel worth the risk any more.
26uk
Posts: 70
Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2020 8:19 pm
Location: Bay Area, Ca

Wed Jan 27, 2021 11:00 pm

eon-pu wrote:
Wed Jan 27, 2021 8:24 pm
For those ordering from Japan or China, my humble recommendation would be to go with DHL. Simply excellent service and tracking. I've received two separate Japanese pots to the US in mere two days. Cakes from Yunnan Sourcing (China) took less than a week. $35-45 might feel expensive but given the price of the items, it is really not exorbitant.

My China Post EMS orders have been all over the place, with an average wait time of just under two months. I am generally ok waiting, but after losing one pricey parcel for good, it just doesn't feel worth the risk any more.
What did you lose?
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chadao
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun Jan 17, 2021 8:23 pm
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Thu Jan 28, 2021 11:12 am

eon-pu wrote:
Wed Jan 27, 2021 8:24 pm
For those ordering from Japan or China, my humble recommendation would be to go with DHL. Simply excellent service and tracking. I've received two separate Japanese pots to the US in mere two days. Cakes from Yunnan Sourcing (China) took less than a week. $35-45 might feel expensive but given the price of the items, it is really not exorbitant.

My China Post EMS orders have been all over the place, with an average wait time of just under two months. I am generally ok waiting, but after losing one pricey parcel for good, it just doesn't feel worth the risk any more.
For us poor Canadians, it's not only a $35-45 USD price difference but also frequently a $40+ brokerage charge. I'll generally use EMS unless DHL is my only option (and when it is, it's often because the Chinese vendor has a volume deal, I get shipping for free, so paying the brokerage is less offensive)
faj
Posts: 710
Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:45 am
Location: Quebec

Thu Jan 28, 2021 12:56 pm

chadao wrote:
Thu Jan 28, 2021 11:12 am
For us poor Canadians, it's not only a $35-45 USD price difference but also frequently a $40+ brokerage charge. I'll generally use EMS unless DHL is my only option (and when it is, it's often because the Chinese vendor has a volume deal, I get shipping for free, so paying the brokerage is less offensive)
Tea is not taxable in Canada, there should never be GST/PST applied. DHL charged me duties on a package from Japan recently. I contested this charge because there are no duties on green tea from Japan (I do not know for other countries), and they dropped it, though the did not remove the ~20$ brokerage charge.

It was the first time any of my packages was hit with duties or taxes, but I have not used DHL much (if at all) before.
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chadao
Posts: 32
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Location: Vancouver, Canada

Thu Jan 28, 2021 1:19 pm

faj wrote:
Thu Jan 28, 2021 12:56 pm
chadao wrote:
Thu Jan 28, 2021 11:12 am
For us poor Canadians, it's not only a $35-45 USD price difference but also frequently a $40+ brokerage charge. I'll generally use EMS unless DHL is my only option (and when it is, it's often because the Chinese vendor has a volume deal, I get shipping for free, so paying the brokerage is less offensive)
Tea is not taxable in Canada, there should never be GST/PST applied. DHL charged me duties on a package from Japan recently. I contested this charge because there are no duties on green tea from Japan (I do not know for other countries), and they dropped it, though the did not remove the ~20$ brokerage charge.

It was the first time any of my packages was hit with duties or taxes, but I have not used DHL much (if at all) before.
Oh well noted! This explains why a few of the other places didn't ding me with customs.
faj
Posts: 710
Joined: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:45 am
Location: Quebec

Thu Jan 28, 2021 1:35 pm

chadao wrote:
Thu Jan 28, 2021 1:19 pm
Oh well noted! This explains why a few of the other places didn't ding me with customs.
If it can help, here is a link to a website by Canadian government agencies that allows one to identify the duties applicable to a given class of goods taking into account the country of origin. This one is pre-filled with green tea from Japan, but you can easily search for something else.

https://www.tariffinder.ca/en/search/im ... 0902109020

The nice thing is, since the URL encodes the search parameters, you can pinpoint your search then simply copy/paste the URL to contest the brokerage determination. It is much more convincing to the person receiving your claim I would assume, and all they have to do is click the link, they do not need to be explained how to proceed.
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chadao
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun Jan 17, 2021 8:23 pm
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Thu Jan 28, 2021 4:12 pm

faj wrote:
Thu Jan 28, 2021 1:35 pm
chadao wrote:
Thu Jan 28, 2021 1:19 pm
Oh well noted! This explains why a few of the other places didn't ding me with customs.
If it can help, here is a link to a website by Canadian government agencies that allows one to identify the duties applicable to a given class of goods taking into account the country of origin. This one is pre-filled with green tea from Japan, but you can easily search for something else.

https://www.tariffinder.ca/en/search/im ... 0902109020

The nice thing is, since the URL encodes the search parameters, you can pinpoint your search then simply copy/paste the URL to contest the brokerage determination. It is much more convincing to the person receiving your claim I would assume, and all they have to do is click the link, they do not need to be explained how to proceed.
This will undoubtedly help. I have to follow up with DHL... I knew it wasn't GST taxable, but I was under the impression duty was some other form of tax. Time to do some more researching.
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pedant
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Wed May 26, 2021 3:16 am

EMS Japan will resume acceptance of packages to USA on june 1 2021

unfortunately, the prices are going up:
Since the number of flights has been reduced owing to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, we have had no choice but to suspend the acceptance of some postal items. We apologize for any inconvenience. We have been discussing with airlines to secure space on flights for postal items, but our transportation costs have unavoidably risen. We are sincerely sorry, but we are forced to introduce a "tentative extra charge for EMS" starting on 1st June 2021.
on that page, there is a table of tentative price increases. it seems like the percent increase gets more expensive for bigger/more expensive packages.
the lightest/cheapest packages to north america are increasing in cost by 20%. very heavy ones are going up 60%+.

in addition, packages may experience delays in the beginning.
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Bok
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Wed May 26, 2021 3:44 am

pedant wrote:
Wed May 26, 2021 3:16 am
EMS Japan will resume acceptance of packages to USA on june 1 2021

unfortunately, the prices are going up:
Since the number of flights has been reduced owing to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, we have had no choice but to suspend the acceptance of some postal items. We apologize for any inconvenience. We have been discussing with airlines to secure space on flights for postal items, but our transportation costs have unavoidably risen. We are sincerely sorry, but we are forced to introduce a "tentative extra charge for EMS" starting on 1st June 2021.
on that page, there is a table of tentative price increases. it seems like the percent increase gets more expensive for bigger/more expensive packages.
the lightest/cheapest packages to north america are increasing in cost by 20%. very heavy ones are going up 60%+.

in addition, packages may experience delays in the beginning.
Same happened for EMS from Taiwan for some destinations...
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