OMG. I don't know about where you live, but here in the States, another protest turned into looting & rioting. Attacking police precinct is actually on point, but violent looters & rioters who hijack these things, they mostly attack civilians & private businesses. *eye roll*
I hope everyone's doing okay in this crazy, horrible..... a crazy-horrible year which we call 2020. Seriously, what gives. We started the year with the mega disaster in Australia with the bushfire, we lost Kobe Bryant, Meghan & Prince Harry stepped down from the Royal Family(lmao) etc. Not long after, we got smacked hard in the head with a sledgehammer -aka- Coronavirus(Covid 19). This virus killed countless people, pretty much crippled or locked down families, relationships, businesses, transportations, sports(Olympics!) & everything else.
So what can minicarpics blog say relevant to the topic? Uhhh.... Thanks to the Pandemic, Hot Wheels hunting now requires face masks & six feet distancing. Duh.
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| A selfie with my face mask on. I'm doing it wrong? Well, I don't care. |
But wait. There is more:
For minicar collectors, some hard-to-find JDM items must ship out of Japan. Tomicas, Kyoshos, ignition models, etc. Me, I mainly use eBay & amiami. Shipping charges can be high, wait can be long, but it's so worth it. Unfortunately, everything changed in late March.
I was receiving my Japanese toy cars just fine earlier in the year, but that changed with items departing towards the end of March. At first, I thought the delays were expected considering all the Covid 19 related madness all around the world. I kept checking USPS tracking pages, there were no updates for weeks.
I found out in late April, due to lack of available flights from Japan to U.S., backlog of mail headed to U.S. effectively crippled international shipping to United States. I only found out after a heads up from eBay seller japanawesome. Credit where due, these guys messaged me from eBay how my TLV & ChoroQ Ferraris were returned to them by the Japan Post. Apparently, items were shipped by SAL(economy), but Japan Post were now only accepting EMS or Air Parcel. japanawesome gave me option of cancelling the order, or have them reship by Air. Great customer service. I asked to please reship & they gave me expedited shipping for $20, or regular air shipping at no charge. I was in no hurry, so I opted for regular shipping.
Unfortunately, this is 2020, so it will not slow down with the bad news. Just days later, Japan Post was now not accepting EMS or Air Parcel. lol They can not find available flights to ship anything by air, so now they shipping what they can only by surface(boats). Packages that are already there, they'll ship in order received, but at the current rate, it may take up to 4 months. Yay.
I will now list Japanese sellers I ordered minicars from, and how they dealt with those orders in this very trying time. Note: All sellers responded inquiries promptly & very professionally:
AmiAmi is a large retailer, and I suppose they had the shipping delay information all along on their website. Since I didn't get any heads up about my old orders, which never arrived, I contacted them. One of the tracking information actually said that the package was sent back to the sender.
Customer support responded I think within a day & according to them, even if tracking show that package was returned to sender, it likely take weeks for the package to actually reach their warehouse.
I'm told that they are in a holding pattern. They hope to start shipping again when Japan Post services resume. They also offer DHL, but I expect that to be a very spendy service.
eBay Sellers:
March 20
No tracking number, no communication until I messaged them late May. According to the seller, Japan Post still have the item, but they were cancelling the order & refunded my order. Item relisted with a pricehike.
March 26
No tracking, no communication until I messaged them asking for tracking in late April. They request I wait. 2 months later, I'm still hoping for the best.
March 26
This is the seller I mentioned earlier. I'm still hoping it goes through, but very impressed with how seriously they take customer service.
April 10
Seller took initiative, contacted me ten days later, but to cancel the order. They apologized for the cancellation, citing postal service stoppage. Re-listed item with a price bump.
April 20
Japan Booster. What do you say about Japan Booster. My blog has permanent link to Japan Booster website & eBay store for reason. COOLEST minicars, SUPERIOR service. Akiyo, who runs this store would bend over backwards to help you.
May 18th, I received message from Akiyo stating that they successfully reached an partnership agreement with DHL. Japan Booster is pulling the packages stuck with Japan Post & resending them with DHL.
I have a guy at work who's fascinated by Honda T360 pickup. I also needed to reorder that black TLV F40 another seller cancelled on me, so I took advantage of their free shipping promo($100 or more, 2+ items) & placed another order.
Yippee! I hope you guys stay safe & wish you a much, much better rest of the year. :)
