Random Fashion Thoughts (Part 3: Style farmer strikes back) - our general discussion thread

[gdl203]

Unless you have a gambling personality, you should avoid USPS international centers like the plague right now

 

[chimpskibot]

Would you say that even for small parcels, such as what can fit into a manilla envelope?

Yes USPS uses commercial flights to ship packages international whereas courier companies have their own planes. Due to Covid commercial flight volume is down ~90%. There may be a 4-month+ wait time for your package.

 

[WhyUEarly]

I just had UPS lose a package I shipped to Canada after clearing customs, but I suppose that could happen at any time too.

 

[FlowableFill]

I ordered something from a shop in Korea a couple months back and it took about a month to get here. I'm currently waiting on a shipment from St. Crispin's. The package was picked up yesterday and is scheduled to get to me by Monday, DHL is the carrier.

 

[whorishconsumer]

Has anyone had to deal with international shipping? I have a suit in Italy that's ready to ship, but I don't know if it would be better if I just wait for the company to bring it with them to their next trunk show. Similarly, I have things that I need to send to the UK and Italy, but am worried about things getting stuck for months.

Greg at NMWA mentioned that he's had issues with international shipping. And of the few things I've bought abroad, two things have already been stuck in customs for months. Wondering if it's a bad idea to send things via regular post that are time-sensitive or expensive.

do NOT send anything via regular post. Couriers are OK (UPS, Fedex, DHL) but you may need to wait weeks or months if you ship something via mail

Yes USPS uses commercial flights to ship packages international whereas courier companies have their own planes. Due to Covid commercial flight volume is down ~90%. There may be a 4-month+ wait time for your package.

All carriers are slammed right now. USPS is particularly impacted and has deprioritized all mail except Priority. If you're a business, like NMWA, then the liability is too great and the likelihood of delay too high to continue shipping with them (if that's what you were using prior?). That being said, the USPS - and partner postal services - are still working. In the last three months, I've received about 7 packages (namely records) from overseas, both Europe and Asia, that were shipped via regular post. Delays were a ceiling of about 5-6 weeks, an average of about a month. I have returned a package to Italy via USPS, which arrived successfully after about 3-4 weeks.

But as noted, express carriers are working for the most part as normal - I've encountered minimal delays for orders shipped via DHL, UPS and Fedex. So, if you're not using USPS then I think you will be fine. I guess I should qualify "normal": a recent comment I saw on Reddit described UPS drivers working 70 hour weeks.

 

[malcb33]

I just had UPS lose a package I shipped to Canada after clearing customs, but I suppose that could happen at any time too.

I think that is just a one-off incident. I've had multiple items shipped via USPS from the US to Canada recently and haven't had any issues. The hold-ups seem to be on the USPS side of things from my experience and Canada post while busy, is still meeting usual delivery times once it's in their hands.

UPS is horrible when shipping to Canada FYI

 

[WhyUEarly]

I think that is just a one-off incident, I've had multiple items shipped via USPS from the US to Canada recently and haven't had any issues. All the hold-up seem to be on the USPS side of things from my experience and Canada post while busy, is still meeting usual delivery times once it's in their hands.

I usually ship USPS to Canada, but decided to do UPS because of the USPS logjam. First time I had problem with UPS to Canada, but I don't think they refund the stupid brokerage fee to the receiver even though the package is lost.

 

[whorishconsumer]

I've had three packages (records) sent via USPS seemingly go missing in the past three months, before eventually reappearing. They were all domestic shipments, incidentally.

I will say that the USPS doesn't have the infrastructure to support the volume of complaint traffic they receive, so if your package does go missing, you're SOL. But like I said: all three package re-emerged, eventually.

If you have a package sent via USPS that you suspect is missing, the first step is to start a claim here: https://usps.force.com/emailus/s/. That kicks off an investigation at your local post office. If they can't find it, the next step is to open a claim here: https://www.usps.com/help/missing-mail.htm, which kicks off an investigation across the entire USPS.

You probably won't get a response from them with either approach, but whenever I have opened a claim it seems to have magically unstuck my package within the system.

 

[malcb33]

I usually ship USPS to Canada, but decided to do UPS because of the USPS logjam. First time I had problem with UPS to Canada, but I don't think they refund the stupid brokerage fee to the receiver even though the package is lost.

Sorry to hear that, but I'm also not surprised either unfortunately.

UPS uses extremely shady practises (brokerage fees) which from what I understand is technically illegal and there was a class action being formed against them. On top of that their service is extremely unreliable and their CS is one of the worst, I've experienced. I hate them with an absolute passion!

 

[peachfuzzmcgee]

I have two packages out in the world, one from Russia and another from Malaysia. The Russian one hasn't moved since April 16 which I am soon gonna just claim a loss, and the other has no movement since June 1st, I might see that someday haha.

 

[JohnMRobie]

Has anyone had to deal with international shipping? I have a suit in Italy that's ready to ship, but I don't know if it would be better if I just wait for the company to bring it with them to their next trunk show. Similarly, I have things that I need to send to the UK and Italy, but am worried about things getting stuck for months.

Greg at NMWA mentioned that he's had issues with international shipping. And of the few things I've bought abroad, two things have already been stuck in customs for months. Wondering if it's a bad idea to send things via regular post that are time-sensitive or expensive.

Since COVID started it's been mainly normal with DHL or FedEx from Italy, the UK and Sweden. Singapore and Japan were also pretty standard on FedEx and DHL. Australia via DHL took about four weeks.

 

[ultraExtendo]

I ordered a pair of Tricker's from a shop in Italy sometime in April and while they were slammed with covid cases around then, once they shipped the package (after about a week) through DHL, the delivery took a few days.

I also ordered a few camera lenses from Japan recently and they all got to me extremely fast, no issues with customs. I think 2 went from Japan Post through USPS, but the largest package went through Fedex and got to me in 2 days (I live in the Southwest).

YMMV, but like mentioned earlier, I'd stick with the couriers and avoid USPS. Haven't dealt with UPS much lately, but I know Fedex and DHL are safe bets for international shipping out of the US.

Has anyone had to deal with international shipping? I have a suit in Italy that's ready to ship, but I don't know if it would be better if I just wait for the company to bring it with them to their next trunk show. Similarly, I have things that I need to send to the UK and Italy, but am worried about things getting stuck for months.

Greg at NMWA mentioned that he's had issues with international shipping. And of the few things I've bought abroad, two things have already been stuck in customs for months. Wondering if it's a bad idea to send things via regular post that are time-sensitive or expensive.

 

[Bromley]

Have received several UPS shipments from Italy (to the US) during the past few months, and have experienced no delays at all. Received an on-time shipment as recently as last week.

The only delays I've experienced are from Japan, which has a months-long wait regardless of the carrier. Side note: Does anyone have a persimmon tannin (kakishibu) hook up in North America?

 

[Bromley]

I also ordered a few camera lenses from Japan recently and they all got to me extremely fast, no issues with customs. I think 2 went from Japan Post through USPS, but the largest package went through Fedex and got to me in 2 days (I live in the Southwest).

How long ago did you order stuff from Japan?

 

[ultraExtendo]

How long ago did you order stuff from Japan?

1st order was mid-March around the beginning of the lockdown. 2nd one was the end of April and the last order I made was at the end of May. Are yours just getting held up in customs or what? Mine may have moved fast because they're fragile, but I have no idea.