Hey, does anyone have any recent experience on how long surface mail is taking to reach the USA?
I sent a box in April, and so far, tracking still says “Dispatch from outward office of exchange – Kanagawa”
… Does this mean it hasn’t even left Japan yet?
Thanks!
8 comments
Even before COVID, it took 3+ months for packages to get to the US by ship.
Dispatch from the outward office of exchange is the last status you will get until it’s processed by USPS on the US side.
It could still be sitting in a port in Kanagawa (unlikely), on ship over the Pacific, or waiting in random container in the port of LA.
Not the U.S, but I sent a big parcel to the U.K. by surface mail back in April. I was told by the post office staff that it will take 2-3 months. I expected 3 months but in the end it was exactly 2 months (posted April 1st, arrived June 1st)
I don’t have experience shipping to the US, but I send a bday present to my friend in Israel every year. I ship in October and it gets there around Feburary or March. Ever since covid there’s only been surface mail to Israel.
I’ve been shipping packages to the east coast US since February, and it seems each one has taken 3-4 months before it arrives.
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It’s likely waiting to get unloaded at a dock somewhere. How big was it? The bigger the parcel the longer it’s likely to take. Then depending on the ships route it could have made stops in any number of places first. though I think Japan to US, california is typically the first stop.
It takes about forever. I sent one to Colorado from Japan around March/April and it arrived in Autumn in time for Christmas.