Any recent problems shipping to Taiwan?

[newjerseypicker08836]

Any recent problems shipping to Taiwan? I just thought it was part of China in general. Apparently Taiwan (R.O.C.) is not the same as China (P.R.C.)? 

[pburn]

Well, at least one latent function of this pandemic is that Americans are finally learning some geography and world history! LOL!

You could check USPS alerts here:

https://about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts/international/welcome.htm

I imagine all packages virtually everywhere are experiencing delays. Individual carrier websites may give you some information, as well.

[pjcdn2005]

I read an article saying that Taiwan has the virus under control and life there is close to normal so it should be ok to ship there.

https://nationalpost.com/health/how-taiwan-and-singapore-managed-to-contain-covid-19-while-letting-n...

https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2020/03/19/asian-countries

[pburn]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

I read an article saying that Taiwan has the virus under control and life there is close to normal so it should be ok to ship there.

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Yes, but since the US doesn't have the virus under control, they may not be accepting packages from us at some point, since we're so far behind the rest of the developed world on this issue.

[newjerseypicker08836]

Funny but not funny. I actually thought the island of Taiwan was Hong Kong 🙂 I am a bit hesitant to ship there at this time considering the circumstances but the wheels need to keep turning. Thank you for posting the link. 

[bar-29368]

Yep Taiwan is an independent nation (much as China would like to believe otherwise) but Hong Kong is part of China (much as HK would rather NOT be).

[slippinjimmy]

The biggest problem with the mail and certainly for First Class and Small Packets is the dramatic reduction in flights. Internationally most of this type of mail is carried by passenger jets, with airlines around the world cancelling tens of thousands of flights the capacity is far below normal.

Internally most Postal operators are still functioning but with a reduced workforce, similarly staffing by customs is reduced in many countries which leads in some cases to backlogs and in other cases some countries are no longer accepting incoming mail.

The last time I experienced this type of situation was in 2010 when the airspace over most of Europe was closed as a result of the Iceland volcano. Even though the closure was relatively short the chaos that ensued was significant.