Has anyone ever received a package from EMS stateside that never came up in the item tracking search? I'm praying for this scenario or I can kiss my Gamerudon goodbye.

Long story short paid for my Celga shipping invoice (Gam & a mini) and the tracking number they sent me for the last week keeps saying 'item number not found'. Celga assures me it went out the 22nd of Dec and says that sometimes the site doesn't work. They also said the tracking number was correct.

All I know is Mandarake sent me something on Christmas day and it's arrived at JFK (probably be here tomorrow or tues) so the whole 'well it was the holidays' doesn't really mean jack to me.

This has not been my week with EMS....

Hmm. EMS is always super quick for me. Just as recently as last week.

I do believe though, that the tracking #'s I have gotten from Celga have not worked several times.

Here's hoping it gets sorted out so I can see pics of that Gamerudon.

EMS was weird for me. I had something shipped out by Celga on the 22nd. Said it left Osaka on the 23rd. Which then means on the 24th or 25th it should have arrived here stateside.

But it said not much of anything but "Origin Post is Preparing Shipment" on the 24th and 25th. And yes, I know that's Christmas and Christmas Eve, but U.S.P.S. delivers express mail 365 days a year. So it was odd. Why get an "Origin Post is Preparing Shipment" when it clearly left the PO near Celga and went to the main outbound PO in Osaka?

Anyway, on the 25th it showed it arrived at JFK in the evening and on the 26th it was delivered to me.

Does anyone know if JapanPost takes the Christmas holiday off completely? Because that could explain what happened; Japan side not being 365.

Kind of comforting to hear I'm not the only one who experienced something odd wit delivery.

I just hope it shows up here tomorrow or tuesday with my Mandarake package. I know EMS does not update on weekends at all, but it's now officially Monday in Japan and still 'item not found'. Melek's reply is comforting. Fingers crossed.

Christmas is celebrated some in Japan, but not in a "close business for the day" kind of way. It's actually more of a romantic holiday, so I wouldn't imagine mail being affected on that side. That said, when it arrives in the US EMS hands it off to USPS, and once that happens...

Lixx, I'm confident you'll get all your stuff, no need to stress out over tracking #s..

I have had EMS tracking numbers that didn't show up in the tracking website, however, all of the packages arrive without delay or issues.

Hopefully, it works out the same way for you.

Turns out they emailed me the wrong number. Keigo sent me a jpg image of the ems packing slip and this morning I was looking at it, saying to myself "I know they told me it's the right number in the email but let me look at the number in the pic one more time". There was a 3 that should have been a 6. The correct number brought up the package at JFK on 26th and it should be here today I'm thinking (unless USPS tries to send it back as undeliverable again!)

Ah, the joys of shipping stress. Glad to hear things worked out Chris.

lixx, you have the worst luck with ems.

glad to hear its enroute.

I really should pursue a career in shipping. My entire adult life I've worried about packages because of my unusually bad luck with them. I used to get rare records from the UK and they've arrived smashed to bits. This is probably why when I ship I'm a expert packer and ship fast with tons of confirmation/tracking.

Truthfully I just wanted to beat the New Years holiday in Japan for all my shipping. That usually ties things up till mid month.

Got it! posting quick pics in Show Your Collection

Remember that its not just shipping, but clearance of customs. I have found the delay comes there usually.

Oh man, almost got screwed by EMS.

Seriously Joe? Or are you kidding?

Yea, I was expecting a few packages today at the office.
Tracked them online and saw that they tried to deliver on Friday, 26th.
No one was here so they said notice was left and they would try again.
Waited all day and nothing.
Managed to track my packages down right before they closed.
I wonder why they didn't try to redeliver though.
They're normally pretty good at that.

I think it's because of that whole notice thing. They probably encountered so many instances of: person at depot & package out with driver so maybe they just decided: we'll make one attempt, then you come get it.

There hours just suck though for me so picking up a package during the week is difficult (i think there hours are 10am-4pm???). So then there's that chance a package gets attempted to be delivered on Monday and then you have the whole rest of the week to worry whether they hold if for you or not till the weekend. Then you go there Saturday morning all hung over from the night before and there's a bunch of people in line and they never find the packages right away 'cause they don't appear to be that well organized so you're just standing there waiting and waiting and it's a whole f'ing mess. Then finally you get your package and say to your self....well I guess it was worth it..

gawd I hate shipping. Remember back in the day when you ordered something and the shipping quote was like 6-8 weeks??! Makes me wonder what the hell was going on back then. heh.

The problem really lies in the fact that the shift from retail to online sales has really caught the Post Office off guard. UPS, FedEx and DHL are setup for package delivery and do a great job. But the Post Office is still mired in 1960s ways of doing things. I think delivery confirmation numbers and automatic postal centers have improved some things. But otherwise, you really can't blame any particular worker for anything. The system is screwed up. It was setup for letters and now... That setup means practically nothing thanks to e-mail and even cell phones...

Based on my own local post office, the main thing people do is mail packages, get money orders and return Netflix films. When you think about it. That's a weird array of things for one entity to do.

Wonder if there are any countries out there who have radically redone their postal systems successfully to deal with the modern world.

delivery confirmation is almost useless, i wish they could use it in the same manner as a ups tracking number.

I dunno....I'm pretty down on UPS. Depite the crappy weather, USPS still got packages out for delivery. I've still got 3 packages at the UPS service center that were supposed to have been out for delivery on the 22nd and still haven't gone out yet. I can't pick them up since they haven't been "reprocessed". What does brown do for me? Nothing, apparently.

\

I've had numerous conversations with USPS workers about this and here's the deal with EMS to USPS transfer. Once USPS has it in your local post office it's considered express (EMS is) and they have to get it to you before noon. Now say you have a lazy son of a I FART A LOT postal carrier. More than likely he'll just pre write a slip and go ring your buzzer (or in some cases not) and if you were home you're left wondering WTF?! If you got a good guy he'll bring it and ring your buzzer.

OK say you weren't home and he left a slip. They will not attempt redelivery the next day. Their logic is that you will try to come to them for it the next day. If you don't come and fill out the slip they'll pick it up the next day (provided you leave it out) and then deliver on the third day. I know the system blows and its mad confusing.

C.

Oh crap==my EMS said arrived on the 22nd of December. Still nothing.

Arrived in US? Or arrived at Departure point in Japan? If it arrived in the US it takes usually a day or two to get from main US points, NYC (JFK), LA, SF etc etc to your local post office. THE EMS site is really horrible at updates. Usually after you sign and get it- it will still be updating saying it's at your local office. I'd give your local a call if it was here on the 22nd.

hmmm... my current celga box has been in customs for 4 days now. either they're slow for the holidays, not updating the tracking, or they're busy yanking the heads off my toys. I don't recall any of my celga boxes ever getting held up in customs for any more than a very brief period. anyone else?