RResidents in Japan

whats the deal with international shipping options?

I checked the website to see how much to mail something to my bf in america and it shows like 7 international shipping options, but all of them say currently unavailable except for the most expensive one?? If i go to JPost and ask for the cheap one would they say they cant do it or is the website just wrong?

6 comments

  2. Which options in particular are you looking to use?

    SAL (Sea, Air, and Land) was my go-to pre-pandemic. But they shut it down due to a lack of sufficient traffic. That is, with SAL your package was more or less being put on barges/planes/trucks that happened to have the spare room. Well, since during the pandemic there were FAR fewer flights going in and out of Japan, it obviously was no longer an option as the priority packages took up more space as they weren’t being spread so thin.

    I don’t know if there’s a plan to bring back SAL but I’m guessing no. I think from the post office’s perspective, people got used to paying more money, so why would they go back to offering options for less?

    EPS is probably the expensive option you’re referring to, yes? I would weigh your package and use an online cost calculator to compare to options like FedEx and DHL. It’s probably going to be expensive no matter what, but you ARE shipping something across the planet…

  3. Now it’s not the right time to start some kind of business that ships from Japan.

    I used to ship small printer parts before Covid, but now shipping anything is 4000 or more.
    Used to pay 740yen for a small box with online tracking, now it’s not possible anymore.

    Had to give up on this business, nobody would pay 4000yen just for shipping alone.

  5. So options to usa /canada with jpost are
    EMS less than 1 wk but 4500yen+
    2 week parcel 4000 yen+

    2 week documents / papers 1500yen or chesper w/o tracking

    Or 2 months boat 700yen+

    Unfortunately air mail hasnt been available since covid

  6. I spoke to post office and they said because there are fewer flights and ships, the cheap sal option is not available and even other options that take up cargo space in existing flights take longer

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