TOKYO, July 5, 2020—I received a package of Mr. Rainier cherries, yes, that delicious one, from my U.S.-based friend the other day, and intending to reciprocate, I packed Japanese goodies and took the package to a local post office to send. Sending a small parcel has been no hassle and I thought it’s the same this time even if international flights were limited for the Covid-19 pandemic affecting passengers – but not cargo flights.
I was wrong. The post office clerk told me almost curtly, ‘We are no accepting any outbound postal materials excluding mails and postcards to the United States.’ When I asked her how soon the service will resume, she said, ‘We have no idea.’ Delivery to China, New Zealand, Italy and Indonesia reopened on June 30 on a partial basis for small air parcels, the postal company, Japan Post, said on its website, but that accepting cargoes for delivery to the United States remained closed. When pressed on, the post office clerk disclosed that outbound surface (ship) cargoes to the United States remained open but that she had now idea how long. Plus, the fee is twice as much as sending my parcel by air.
I then thought about sending the package I brought back from the post office via Federal Express. They were accepting outbound cargoes to the United States but the fee was too high, at least three times the value of the package, so I gave up that option and decided to sit on it until the postal serve resumes services.
Back home, I thought over the situation: Why is that the Fedex is operating both outbound and inbound cargoes from the United States but Japan Post, the governmental postal and logistics company, is not? Since I am writing this article on a weekend, I cannot investigate but can speculate that it has something to do with Japan Post’s business relations with commercial airlines – and bureaucracy.
My internet searches revealed that Japan Post seemed to be using only or primarily Japanese flag carriers of ANA and JAL to carry cargoes to and from the United States, and since the two carriers now are flying on a vey limited basis, the company cannot accept outbound cargoes. Japan Post can piggyback on Fedex cargo flights but it probably won’t do it so as not to disrupt its traditional business ties with the two Japanese carriers. Call it the old ‘keiretsu’ tie.I have no information about inbound cargoes Japan Post handles from the United States but won’t be surprised if it is handled as business as usual.
The company was privatized a few years ago but its management and employees remain unchanged as a far-end branch of the Japanese bureaucracy.
This can be a reason why the Japan Post stock price has been drifting lower and could even slip further from the current level of 762 yen.
–Toshio Aritake
Insight Into the Future