"Shipping from the US to New Zealand and Australia" Topic

On the morning of October 2nd, I leapt up and placed an order for a bunch of French and CotR with Old Glory 15s.

Paypal did its thing. All good in the hood at this stage.

Then I saw a news story announcing that the US Postal Service has indefinitely suspended all shipping to New Zealand (and evidently they had already cut Australia adrift).

Does anyone know any more about this, like whether there are alternative courier services being used, how long it might last etc?

Luckily this unfortunate interruption (I was looking forward to further distraction from my existing lead mountain), has meant I'm getting some of my backlog completed :-)

Cheers,
John

You may want to reach out to OG15s. Some companies are looking for alternative services since the USPS won't ship right now.

I have heard other people from New Zealand saying the same thing and gamers in Australia who ordered GHQ products almost 2 months ago and nothing has been shipped yet. Deliveries from the UK are unaffected.
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Try UPS.

I shipped from US to Australia and it arrived in 8 calendar days which was 6 days faster than they quoted.

Expect to pay more. UPS had a 45% off online click when you filled out the shipping forms.

I placed my most recent order with OG15s in late July. It wasn't shipped until late August. Last I heard, it was stuck somewhere on the west coast of the US. It will get here one day.

Try YouShop. NZ Post runs a service from the USA and may be using their own transport arrangements.

nzpost.co.nz/tools/youshop

G'day, John.

I ordered a board wargame (LBdl Moscowa 3rd Ed) from Clash of Arms last month. They sent it via UPS and I had it delivered in 8 days (I live near Canberra), for the usual price and P&P, with no surcharge for using a courier. I'd happily have paid an extra $25 USD to $30 USD for getting in one week instead of the usual three to four.

So it's doable- if the company with whom you're dealing can, and wants to, make the effort.

Cheers.

I hope this is not the shape of things to come.

Grelber

I was told that USPS from the US to Australia is now only done as Express mail. I just shipped out figures to be painted by Dan Dunbar.

I emailed OG on Oct 3rd and (uncharacteristically as they're typically good), I've had no response.

Slightly worryingly, the USPS said it wasn't entirely due to Covid, which does sound a little like they aren't envisaging returning to normal.

Regards,
John

I've had all of my Australia bound packages returned to me so I'm not trying to ship such orders until the postal situation is fixed. I don't think that my customers want to pay $60 USD+ shipping charge for a $20 USD purchase.

Seems to be the common story. Nothing coming down under from the USA at the moment. Not really sure there is a justifiable reason for it.

I shipped three orders to the USA at the start of October, from NZ, got an update about arrival of one the other day. Took the two weeks it normally takes.

I cannot ship using USPS but GlobalPost is an option. It is about the same price as USPS but I ship to a local address, and they put all the necessary labels on it. I have just used it a few times so no feel yet on speed, but seems to be comparable to USPS, UPS et al.

I'll email Old Glory again and see if I have any more success. I'm not worried, just curious.

GlobalPost looks interesting.

No.
Has been in the press for several weeks.
Intractable governmental agencies… and we thought the NZPO was bad (a previous employer..)
Due to conditions imposed I no longer employ US based resources… books come cheaper AND FASTER from the UK.

Buying discount books via Am/Ebuzz- forget it- I had to pay postage 5x the value of the "bargains" last year!
d

I ordered some figs from Eureka (to USA) but do not expect them for some time, until the chinese biological assault is over.

books come cheaper AND FASTER from the UK.

I agree, getting stuff from the US is a bit difficult right now, possible, but difficult. The UK does not seem to be affected.

I'm in UK and waiting for 2 surface parcels from Hong Kong first posted in late May and the other late August!

>>The UK does not seem to be affected.

Indeed, books ordered and sent 13Oct; delvd to POBox29 Oct (ie yesterday).
Nothing wrong with that service…
Joy and delight to ensue today…
others…meh…

I received this from Old Glory, so I think this bodes well, assuming they've been reliably informed:

"Hi John,

We cast your order and boxed it up, we are waiting for the go ahead to begin shipping again, we have been told that mid November might be the time when we can ship, if you would like us to check into someone like DHL we can, but we have checked for other people and the cost is almost double the post office, let us know.
Thanks for the business, hopefully we can get back to normal soon.

Steve"

Well, a friend just received an order that was postmarked in August so where there's life there's hope!

My OG 15s parcel from August arrived a couple of days ago, so it looks like things might be improving.

Just an update since the subject os tender…

and these comments in November were the same time I ordered from an Aussie company, who despatched in 3 days. No problem with them!

However -50- yes FIFTY DAYS to reach Auckland from Melbourne.

The Aussie PO is severely F*D as well. It is a 4 hour flight from here FFS!!!
Goods sat at Melbourne postal/ freight for 90% of that time. Landed in Akl in middle of holiday long weekend (New Year of course) and delvd to my box Thursday am.

This was a well packaged under 2kg box…
d

The US suggestion is the block is at the Oz end, not theirs. We all know about tennis players, the same may apply to lead 28mm figures (unvaccinated by definition)

See what Brigade Games Miniatures are telling customers Down Under;

"UPDATE REGARDING AUSTRALIAN and NZ SHIPMENTS
Note that there still is a Covid Impact on Australian and NZ shipments as Australian and NZ Customs has put a hold on ANY incoming first class and priority mail shipments due to Covid. Once we have the ability to purchase postage and ship these parcels we will ad we are checking daily. In the meantime these parcels will be waiting for that change.
I am checking the ability to use UPS or DHL for these shipments. If I can, you will be contacted by me by email for approval if there is an additional cost (there will definitely be an additional cost for parcels under 2 pounds weight.)
As all the carriers have had restrictions placed, it is difficult to know the exact postage when calculating the estimate in the store. There are widely variable rates and service levels available.
I will recommend that you add to your shipment if I can ship it by UPS or DHL. The U.S. Post is only accepting Express Mail parcels (think UPS 2-3 day/FedEx 2-3 day pricing, but it takes much longer.)
UPDATE – it appears some international parcel services have started to accept parcels for Australia and NZ and are adding these parcels into their other package shipments coming from outside the USA and have similar shipping times to the U.S. Post. Once the consolidated shipment arrives in the destination country, the parcels are then added to the delivery network. I am working on getting this option setup and will start the process of utilizing these alternative services to get shipments on the way. These will be a bit more expensive and you will be contacted by me by email for approval if there is an additional cost (there will definitely be an additional cost for parcels under 2 pounds weight.) In most cases, I will offer you an option of the services available if UPS or DHL are also available."

I call boll***s on that.
HM Customs service doesn't and cant restrict anything till it lands here.
If the Aussies have been sidelining freight because of low passenger plane numbers then they should be doing what their statutory, government incentivised obligations are and commission freight planes to do so.
They'll actually subsidise that expense by getting piggy back loads that they can extort well. But then they're ex-govt now so they can't think like that- making hayhay while de sun-shine mon…

I agree with SHaT1984. I have been waiting for a shipment from the US to the UK for ages. I am also waiting for a shipment from the US to Japan, which is taking even longer. (I sometimes ship from the US to UK before getting friend to send it to me in asia)

If you want to ship by air from the US you can do so, but it costs a lot right now. My two orders were raised at the cross over period when the problem began.

I also ordered some DVD's from amazon a few days ago and instead of shipping from the US, its shipping from the UK. This has never occured before, unless i specifically ordered something from the UK.

I am uncertain about shipping from the US to New Zealand, but the same issue is occuring in Australia. Shipping from the UK is not an issue.

It is a mess right now, but could be due to a reduction in aircraft flying around. But its not affecting shipments from the UK into asia, only US into asia.

Thanks for the support!
Yes there's some severe, perverse irony in getting books and models from 10000 miles away with 2-3 weeks easily; yet somewhere as 'friendly' with nz as Oz and a 4 hour plane ride away takes 50 days!

Looking at the volumes and quantities flown from both, I cannot see how this works/ fails from a planning perspective. However, Oz [east coast] as we know is a covid-19 basket case like others and Melbourne (State of Victoria) particularly so.

I can afford to wait till things maybe improve, as I've projects to go on with and not relying on anything for income, unlike others in nz. But I realise it doesn't help the manfrs. I deal with now.

I buy in local shops, avoid the big supermarket chains for all except the neccesaries and unlike the impact of cost-avoidance conglomerates (are they helping by grounding planes and staff?) try to spend wisely. I very much think their head-in-the-sand approaches and the fictional 'return to normality' of greed and high profits has gone forever.

Guess what?- inflation driven capitalism doesn't give any better way of life! The sadistic consumerist driven greed really needs to take a break!

Influencers, psuedo-experts and tech-promoters should get real jobs, contribute to society and produce something, other than immoral anxiety, slavish vanity and petty nihilistic entertainment.

cheers
dave

I can confirm stuff is now successfully shipping from the US to the UK, so i am hoping the shipping infrastructure is slowly returning to normal.

As for shipping from the US across the Pacific, that is still an issue as far as i can see.

I've had no problems shipping my orders from the USA to UK, Euroland and Canada. I tried shipping to Oz in December and USPS returned the box to me without it ever leaving the country. I'm investigating Fed Ex and DHL for any shipments to OZ.

I have checked with UPS and they still have a hold for shipments over the pacific from the US to some countries, specifically Australia and Japan. I was told this may be resolved soon.

DHL are still shipping to australia, i have used them in January for shipping an old pc game from the US to Australia

I suspect its weight and/or cost related, i checked with GHQ yesterday and they stated DHL were not shipping yet. I paid for micro-armour back in October at standard shipping costs. I suspect i could pay more to get it shipped, but i can wait.

I am doing a test as well, Panzer Korps are shipping a light parcel to me from California and they seemed to think it will ship ok. I will see if it arrives or not.

My guess is there is a lack of planes flying between the US and a number of countries, such as japan or Australia.