GHQ Models Forums

As you may already know, there is currently an issue with the US Post to Australian Post shipments. We are currently not able to send any packages through the postal system to Australia. This has been going on for about one month now. It was initially labeled as a "temporary" situation, but it continues. We have spoken with local, and national representatives from the USPS, and have not gotten any further insight into the situation, or when it is going to be over. Have any of our Australian customers got any insight into the situation? Is the mail service still continuing to be delivered daily in Australia? To be honest, we don't care who is making the decision to accept/not accept shipments, we are just trying to see if we can gain more insight into the situation, and when it will be over. We have a load of packages for Australian customers that are sitting in our shipping area waiting for the day when this "temporary" situation is resolved. Once again, we are not trying to place blame on anyone, we are just trying to get a better understanding of what the situation is.

To our knowledge, Australia is the only country that we are currently not able to ship to.

Thank you!
GHQ

There's some commentary here abut it: https://www.eseller365.com/usps-suspend ... australia/

The same situation now applies to New Zealand....

GHQ,

Thank you for looking into this. I do have more wish lists that I want to fill but will be holding off until this gets resolved.
Looks like Australia & NZ are now 3rd world countries. Maybe we can get our toys sent via Nigeria?

How I see this problem is no so much the spread of Covid-19 through Australia, but what has been happening here is that all the boarders between our various states have been closed by the local Premier of each of the states as they see fit to slow the spread of the virus. Our numbers for infected, even though are not currently under control, are less per day that the death rate in many other countries. This has a flow on affect with disruptions to interstate traffic, including to the postal system. Below is a article on one of our news sites about the build up of parcels in the system still waiting to be delivered. Interstate truck drivers need exemptions, proof of vaccines, proof of negative test, etc to cross the boarders and then if its been classed as a hard boarder no one gets through regardless.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/busines ... 3eceef4fe3

Now USPS or any other postal service would just be feeding into the system quicker than it can process & distribute the parcels. Causing even more of a back log. USPS has taken a hard decision to stop deliveries to Australia. Short term pain? maybe. At the rate they are going the back log of postal deliveries in the system may take till Christmas to process, not including the Holiday system build up. My last order took 86 days from when GHQ sent me the email that it was being picked up. I could see the disruption to the International Freight system back then in May. USPS have just put the breaks on harder.

So even though I would love to have another order on its way, I think I can wait a few months. I still have about 12 packets that need painting. Will just make my next order bigger once life gets back to normal.

Yes, we have found that this now applies to customers in New Zealand too. If you live in Australia or New Zealand, how is the mail service within your country being handled? Is there still daily mail delivery service? Are you able to receive letters/packages?

Thank you!
GHQ

In April last year Aust Post decided not to conduct normal mail deliveries every day. They cut it back to every second day. This was not a Covid response, more like a manpower response so they can cut back on work hours. This does not normally affect any one unless you get mail every day and since electronic mail is increasing all the time this is a normal business decision. Paper mail has dropped off considerably in the last 10 years.

What has been happening for over 5+ years now is that parcel delivery has fallen in a hole. You don't get a delivery driver knocking on the door any more. you get a slip of paper dropped into your letter box stating you were not home & to collect the parcel from the local post office. This is frustration as the delivery drivers are on the clock & only have so many minutes to deliver all of their packages. So they don't bother.

Been thinking about the current situation and would not be surprised if it was Aust Post that asked USPS hold off in sending parcels to Australia until the back log has been cleared. For New Zealand, a lot of their deliveries would transit via Australia. Sorry cousins.

Australia Post is under pressure, but this is a decision at the American end caused by the reduction of passenger flights to Australia, and so the loss of their underfloor cargo capacity. Presumably the USPS has decided that alternatives aren't cost effective.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2021 ... suspended/

A lot of this is why I haven't purchased anything for a long time, the postal service here in AUS is very much diminished at the moment because of outbreaks in our primary ports, most of which are located throughout places like New South Wales and Victoria. Since most of our shipping/air freight comes through international ports there, priority is focused on what is needed as essential services.

So yeah, we're all kinda just waiting.
Interesting though, we're still getting stuff from Europe and the UK... just horrifically slow *no change there!*

I think it is a mix of lack of staff both on the US side and our side due to COVID outbreaks and lockdowns.


Oh, while I'm here, please consider making infantry with Cold War weapons and 'Bush War' weapons

So........will this effect delivery of any orders to Oz from the last 15 percent special??
I ordered a decent amount, but what happens if they cannot deliver it to me??
Somewhat concerned here.....

When the USPS announced the suspensions, they said all packages shipped before the cut off date would be delivered. Packages shipped after would be returned to sender.

My shipping software wouldn't even allow me to print labels to AUS or NZ the day prior to the cutoff.

Living in Sydney, I'm getting parcels from UK and some places in Europe through with some delay. What I have noticed from trackjing is that it sits at the international departure airport for 1-3 weeks -presumably while waiting for space on a reduced numbver of aircraft coming to Australia. Once in Australia I have seen little if any delay in items posted from interstate - maybe a few days at most. The delays from UK were up to three weeks on what I was used to a few months ago - now within 5-10 days. This has been my experience over >10 packages over teh past three months.

I noticed CDP comment on the prpoblems with parcel delivery. We also had the same experience until our delivery guy changed 18 months ago. Had brilliant service from the young guy that does the run which includes our place - suggest it is down to the individual. Buit Australia Post did outcource a lot of local parcel delivery to local couriers to help deal with the demand and that may also be a cause of the problems.

Final comment on the US situation - only over three packages - all posted in advance of the suspension. One arrived in about 5 weeks, one closer to 10 weeks and the last has not arrived and still says it is sitting in LAX.

Richard

It doesn't help that the US Postmaster General has instituted a deliberate slowdown here to "save money." I have heard he owns stock in one of the non-governmental mail services, but cannot attest certainly to that. So during this heaviest of mail seasons, the mail will be even slower.

I do not have a miraculous solution.

I seem to be caught up in this too. I put an order in in September and got an SMS response but no shipping details.

On the local front Australia Post has really risen to the occasion with the COVID driven move to internet shopping. They have been advertising for more staff now after having their business model shrink for a couple of decades. We get 2-3 packages a week and if the originate in Australia the arrive quite quickly.

There is however a bottleneck in unloading containers from overseas which is blamed on COVID but without any detailed explanation. Air shipments from overseas seem somewhat slow too as there seem to be fewer freight aircraft flying. This was reported as a reason in one of the initial articles on the UPS shut down as I remember.

Anyway hopefully we will get our shipments shortly. My order is for a bunch of samples as I am trying to put together a microarmour wargaming crew.locally. They aren't; too sure what period to start gaming in so I want to display a variety to con them in.

Not feeling quite so alone now.

Regards Pete

GHQ, do we have any update on the status of shipping to us colonials in Australia and NZ?

I've put off a number of orders now and missed several sales because I didn't see the worth in a package sitting unloved in GHQ HQ for months on end