June 2020 Shipping Updates

After several emails from international customers recently wondering why their packages hadn't moved in a month or more we called our local branch of the post office to see if they had any information on why this might be the case. 

We learned that USPS International packages are sent on passenger flights, which most of the time means that packages make it around the world fairly quickly.

However, due to the significant decrease in passenger flights recently many of the international mail distribution centers have a large backlog of packages waiting to be sent out. Packages that were sent in early March are just now being delivered, and there are many, many packages shipped in March, April, and May that are still waiting for their turn to get on a plane to their destination country. Australian orders in particular seem to be experiencing extra long shipping times.

We're estimating that most Priority International packages will be delivered in 6-8 weeks at the moment, while it won't be unusual for First Class International Packages to take 12 or more weeks for delivery. 

USPS has provided great value and service for us over years and years of shipping, and we expect that the packages will all be delivered properly, if much later than expected. 

We have added UPS as an alternate shipping method for international customers, and set the website to calculate and charge the actual cost of shipping should you choose this option. UPS have their own fleet of planes to transport packages, so they have been able to adapt more easily to recent changes. 

Because of their long history of excellent service and good value we will continue to use USPS for all domestic shipments. Despite the enormous increase in packages they have seen in the past months USPS is continuing to deliver most domestic shipments in a timely fashion. While it may take an extra day or two for a package to arrive at the moment, we have not noticed a significant increase in mis-delivered or lost packages over the past few months, and we put this down to the hard work and dedication of our USPS postal workers. 

 

Mid July Update

We have just learned that UPS charges a brokerage fee on top of the shipping fee for orders sent via Ground, and as that brings the total cost up to their faster level of service but is not shown up front we have removed that shipping option.