As strange as it may sound, the pandemic has opened up new opportunities for us. More precisely, these opportunities existed before, but we ignored them… as it turned out, to our detriment.

From the moment airplanes stopped flying, the delivery of air parcels also became unavailable to us. We started looking for new opportunities and found them! Only they weren’t new, but rather very old. Once again, we were convinced that everything new is well-forgotten old.

Ground delivery, in this case maritime, has always existed. But the timeframe of 1-3 months seemed unacceptably long to us, unlike air delivery, which took a maximum of a month…

So what was the actual outcome?

In fact, the delivery times posted on the official website of Japan Post are indicated with a decent margin. On average, parcels to Russia and within it take about 1-1.5 months. And Vladivostok is particularly lucky!!! Parcels reach it in less than a month, sometimes in just 25 days. And what is most surprising is that the air delivery times before the pandemic and the ground shipping times have now equalized! Air parcels flew to Vladivostok before the pandemic via Moscow and took the same time to reach us as they do now by sea. Now everything to Russia goes through Vladivostok. To the central part of Russia, add another two weeks.

The most pleasant advantage of ground delivery is the cost, which is 30% cheaper than air delivery with a tracking number provided. Below in the table, for clarity, you can compare the rates for air and ground delivery of parcels from Japan.

Previously, before the pandemic, we most often sent parcels via air mail, and more specifically, as small packages. This method allows sending parcels weighing no more than 2 kg. If the order weight exceeded 2 kg, we divided it into several packages for greater savings. As can be seen from the rate table, the difference in cost between air delivery and ground delivery for up to 2 kg is not significant. However, sending heavy parcels via ground mail turned out to be quite advantageous! And everything that seemed impossible to send from Japan due to high air tariffs before the pandemic is now quite possible. We just didn’t pay attention to this type of shipment. Now I pack large and heavy boxes, much to the delight of customers and relatives. Whenever I send something to relatives, it’s never less than 7 kg;)

But as soon as air delivery resumes in its previous mode, we will immediately share this good news with you! I promise!

Customs Restrictions

And don’t forget about customs restrictions in Russia. Orders over 200 euros are subject to tax. If the value exceeds this amount, a single tax of 15% of the excess amount is charged. This has been in effect since January 1, 2020. The duty is calculated for each parcel separately, not for the total of cumulative purchases abroad within a calendar month, as it was before. Parcels arriving at customs for one recipient on the same day are summed by value. Therefore, it is better to send parcels either to different recipients or with a gap of a few days between shipments. Yes, in addition to the duty on imported parcels (value over 200 euros) in the Russian Federation, customs fees of 250 rubles per parcel are also payable.

Happy and profitable shopping!