Friday, January 8, 2010

Sending small parcels from Japan. SAL便 and CN22

SAL or economy air (sarubin/SAL便) is a cheaper alternative to airmail if you are posting heavier items up to 5kg. It combines surface delivery and airmail making it slower than airmail but also cheaper.

Here is a list of rates (inEnglish) from the JP site:
http://www.post.japanpost.jp/english/fee/intel/sal.html

For parcels that weigh 2kg or less, don't forget that the SMALL PACKET rate (小包) will be considerably cheaper than INTERNATIONAL PARCEL or EMS and can be sent either airmail or SAL. If you are sending something as a small packet, you'll need to fill out a 'green label' or CN22 customs declaration. This declaration is included in the address labels of International Parcel or EMS. I have found that some post offices don't mention small packet as a postal option and will send everything by international rate, which costs a lot more.

Small packets have quite strict size limits:
http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/service/small_packing_en.html

Small packets can be registered for an extra 410 yen. Using the small packet rate with registration and airmail will reach most destinations at about the same time as EMS. There is no track-and-trace, but it will have a number and be a signed delivery.
http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/service/option/registered_en.html

Happy packing and posting in 2010!

5 comments:

RedFenyx said...

Really interesting!
Thanks for the information!!

flapjacs said...

Great info - I did not know about the registered post option for small packets, thanks! Happy New Year to you AK!

Something Else said...

I love Small Package - but you can't send any letters in them...although sometimes I tell a little fib...

jojoebi-designs said...

also, if it is light and you were going to send SAL, airmail is actually cheaper!

thank you for posting this, do you know the name of the register mail in Japanese? My little post office is pretty clueless, I am slowly educating them :o)

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