Heads-up: New Japan Post Mailing Regulations to the US. Check with your ebay sellers.

I live in the U.S. and order from Japan and as I understand the situation, sometimes other carriers, such as UPS wrongly process the photo items through customs in such a way to result in a custom charge. There should be no monies owed to customs for imported cameras, or lenses for personal use. I've never had any problems with Japan post.. EMS. AND EMS is a very fast service.
 
Vobluda said:
As I write in my post, it is USPS decision. Japan Post or any other post in the world is not to blame..
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The decision by USPS is to prohibit the shipping of ink cartridges weighing more than 1 pound, and nothing else (except for the usual prohibited items). And, outside Yemen, Japan Post office is the only post office in the world right which has prohibited the shipping of all packages over 1 pound to the USA.
 
This is incorrect, as I stated earlier in the thread, I have a customer in France who has been prevented from shipping a lens back to me. It weighs over one pound.

This is also per the TSA, not USPS.

"The Transportation Security Administration of the U.S. has informed air carriers of the 453-gram rule, and carriers notified Japan Post Services, the spokesman said. The rule applies not only to packages from Japan but from other countries."
 
16 ounces is over the shipped weight of most cameras, and many lenses. The general drift of the US Post office in the last few years has been to make life difficult for small sellers shipping internationally. A consequence of many US commerce rules has been to dampen trade with other countries - just another aspect of our imperial government (it takes, but does not give).
 
I was at the post office this morning, 7 rolls of Kodachrome to Dwayne`s were not a problem.... 🙂

Anyway, the situation is less than favorable and hopefully they rule it out soon ...
 
Actually I wonder why they are doing all this now? It seems reactive to a threat that has obviously existed for some time. I suppose they x-ray packages (at least I hope they do), but it may not be enough.

A few years ago the TSA had the post office require international shippers fill out forms with their address, etc. to ship anything internationally. I was told by a USPS manager that the TSA wanted to be able to trace who was shipping what, where, but it seems ridiculous since bad guys will obviously misrepresent themselves. And why just for international mail?
 
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I had 3 lenses never make it to me, 2 from the UK and one from Asia- sent surface mail. I had a Canon P from Korea that looked like someone played Rugby with it. Various other items, a Stein from Germany that was half sticking out of the box. I will never trust anything of value to surface mail. In my experience, about as good as tossing into the street and hoping the person stumbles across it.
 
digitalintrigue said:
This is incorrect, as I stated earlier in the thread, I have a customer in France who has been prevented from shipping a lens back to me. It weighs over one pound.

This is also per the TSA, not USPS.

"The Transportation Security Administration of the U.S. has informed air carriers of the 453-gram rule, and carriers notified Japan Post Services, the spokesman said. The rule applies not only to packages from Japan but from other countries."
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Here is the rule:

"Aviation Security Update - Ink or toner cartridges

Following recent incidents with improvised explosive devices, the Secretary of State for Transport has issued directions prohibiting the carriage by air of ink or toner cartridges, with immediate effect. For the avoidance of doubt the definition of ink or toner cartridges are defined as "a cartridge weighing more than 500g designed for the use in printing equipment such as printers, photocopiers and fax machines"."

No other items are specified as prohibited.
 
I have been informed at the post-office this morning that nothing exceeding a weight of 453g will be accepted for shipping to the USA, by air-mail, EMS or anything else ...
 
Maybe this is why I just picked up two magnificent GX680 3,2 lenses for a song.

I would like to ad that Japan Post has the best EMS tracking and service of all the countries I bought in and sellers in Japan have, with no exception, proven to be very trustworthy.
 
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Luckily there are other options beside Japan Post office. All other Japanese and foreign carriers are still shipping to America, though Fedex is requesting to examine the contents of packages before shipping.

I found that Yamato Kuroneko is shipping to America as usual, and the shipping cost/transit time is roughly the same. A plus is that all shipments include tracking and $2000 insurance coverage at the basic cost.
 
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Private couriers such as FedEx and UPS have their own planes but postal services use commerical airlines to move the mail. Is that the point?
 
hunghang said:
terrorists have finally won...made the whole world gone utterly STUPID over non-effective rules... at least they are good for helping me cure my GAS.
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totally agree. Terrorists can now sit at home, drink bear and enjoy the whole world getting crazy trying to get everything "safe".

Also, here is an interesting article regarding the probability of getting blown up whilst in flight Vs getting cancer from the X-Rays......

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/11/16/5477568-are-airport-x-ray-scanners-harmful
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Now that is a bit of nonsense there. The security body X-ray is quoted as 50 to 100 times weaker than an chest X-ray. of If anybody is concern to get a cancer because of external irradiation - he/she should stop or reduce flying at first place. One intercontinental flight equals of around 0.02 - 0.05 mSv radiation dose - comparable to full chest X-ray.

Just for completeness: total dose per year is about 1 - 2 mSv (most of it is cosmic radiation, Radon and Ca40 in our bones followed by X-ray medical scans).
 
nandemofoto said:
Kuroneko ships to the US from Japan, rates are similar to EMS but they require recipients IRS number or Social Security number on the invoice.
http://www.kuronekoyamato.co.jp/info/info_101116.html
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I have shipped three items from Japan to America this week using Kuroneko, and all that was required was the American recipient's telephone number. A tax number is only needed for commercial goods being shipped tax-free to a retailer.
 
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