Hi, I just sent off some mail to Ireland yesterday through JP Post (I have never sent mail in my life and my mom doesn’t know I sent it) and I was double-checking the details to confirm with the recipient if it would go through or not and I saw this under the page for International Mail/Small Packets:
>Handling of small packets differs from international parcels in the following ways:
>>International parcel labels cannot be used.
>>A small packet is, like a letter or postcard, an ordinary postal item, therefore it cannot be sent registered. If registration is required, please use the optional registered mail/advice of receipt service.
I also put in the declaration of goods that there was a ‘letter’ in there but the post office worker crossed it out after saying letters wouldn’t be allowed, but I picked the small parcel because I was assuming that I’d be able to send a letter *and* a bracelet I’d made. Now I’m just really confused. How should I even go about filling in the declaration of goods if I can’t send a letter *and* a non-paper thing (all of this is non-commercial i.e. gift-type mail)?
So my questions:
1. Would my small packet get shipped through if customs doesn’t find anything wrong with it?
2. If I’m sending letters with other small non-paper stuff enclosed with the mail, which package type should I choose??
I’d appreciate any insight or advice or corrections, thanj you!!
4 comments
For 2, you simply cannot. Letters are considered personal correspondence and therefore protected by privacy laws. Packages of goods are subject to search by custom officials. Mixing them is a issue.
You *can* put the letter inside the package, but you *don’t* declare it in the form. That’s it. You only have to declare the goods since it is subject to custom tax/search, but letter is not goods.
The FAQs in the Japan Post even states that you can include letter inside international package/EMS:
[https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/question/54.html](https://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/question/54.html)
As others have said, there’s the privacy issue surrounding correspondence, but the other part is that the customs form is only for taxable/dutiable goods, so you wouldn’t include a letter/card on the itemized list.
Question though: were you able to send it as a “small packet”? I thought e-packet/small packet was still (indefinitely) suspended.
Sending things to Ireland specifically has become a major pain in the arse in the last 2 years. If you are sending anything you will need to send it registered and send it with EMS or similar.
Sign up for an account at [Japan Post](https://www.post.japanpost.jp/intmypage/whatsmypage_en.html) and fill in the information of everything you are sending. You will also need to search for the HS code for everything in the package and list it too (you will need a 10-digit HS code. If you can only find a 6-digit code, just add 0000 to the end of it).
I’ve been through the same hassle with JP sending stuff home and this is what we need to do now. It’s an issue with Irish customs, not a Japanese thing.
As others have said, put your letter in the package and when they ask, just say there isn’t one in it