Japan Post is great - but you gotta train them up.

Sent something today. Filled out the EMS form... went to the counter of my non-local PO...

Clerk: "Um, what's in the box?" pointing at the Detailed Description of Contents box where I wrote 'HQ power kite bar with quick release'.
Me: "Kite bar. Kite bar. Kite. Bar. Bar for kites. Control bar." Insert blank looks from clerk between words.
Clerk: "Nothing dangerous is it?"
I look pointedly at the Guidelines for Posting Stuff poster with the large, colourful pictures beside the counter, then back at the clerk.
Me: "No. Not unless you try to eat it."
Tap-tap-tap on the computer.
Out comes the glossy A4-sized replica of the large Guidelines poster.
Clerk: "Is it any one of these things? Or a lithium battery?"
I point at the check box that states 'I do solemnly swear that nothing in the box is on the prohibited items list or is in anyway dangerous' where I have checked and signed it.
Me: "Have I checked and signed this box?"
Clerk: "Yes but is it an engine maybe? Or a gun?"
Me: "The box. Is it checked and signed?"
Clerk: "Well... yes *sniff* fine."

Now repeat a few minutes later with the value of the item - I wrote $100 and the clerk (who also works in the Post Office Bank) insisted it be written in Yen (for the US customs?!?) didn't know the exchange rate and couldn't convert dollars to yen... she tried to devalue the product by 1,000%

I should have known better - that's the same place that has called me up a few hours later to repeat the "What's in the box? Nothing dangerous?" interrogation.

Now, my local PO are awesome - never any hassles! And the service once it's on its way is excellent! It's just getting it over the counter :D

You're doing it wrong.

Prior to packing up the item to be shipped, photograph it.

It would help greatly if you could photgraph it surrounded by "Hello Kitty" and other stuffed toys.



It would really help, if you could dress them all up in T-Shirts that say (in Japanese, if necessary)....



ATB,
Sam

Wouldn't help. They won't see the connection between a photo of the stuff, a photo of the box, a photo of me putting stuff into the box, and a photo of the box sealed.

funniest post in a while....

Seriously though... great suggestion Sam. But let's not be serious...

Lol culture lessons from kevin

"This week, we mail a kite! Next week we buy a sandwich!"

Dude, just wear a camera all the time....

Food... you tend to get what the server wants. Picture this...

It's summer. 38˚C in the shade. We go to Starbucks for a coffee... the same shop that for the past few years, twice a weekday, I've been ordering a "drip coffee grande hot black" coffee - spring, summer, fall and winter.

So I pull up to the drive-thru, I order my hot black coffee... drive to the window and they hand me - an ice coffee. And when I hand it back, show them my receipt, repeat my order they look at me like somehow I've magic'd a change to the receipt cos I obviously should have ordered the ice coffee that the server has been dreaming about on this hot day!

happens about a couple of times in summer, without fail.

I do not drink sissy, milky kids drinks and nor do I drink sugary, sickly ice coffee liquid manure. And I have N-E-V-E-R ordered anything but... grande drip coffee hot.

...

Now the sandwich ladies at the sole Subway near here (an hours' drive away) I give them a lot of leeway to #@%$#! up because they give me so much free stuff :D and they are, after all, the ONLY sandwich shop around

Kami you could have a blog dealing with the locals. Between real life stuff and the things you describe at your local kite spots, I'm often laughing at your experiences and delivery, mixed in with your willingness to make fun of others and yourself equally. :bigok: