I ordered a Shimano Aldebaran 51 from Japan lure shop over a week ago.  JLS shipped the package extremely fast which got me all excited for a weekend full of fishing using my new reel.  Unfortunately US customs stepped in and put a stop to that.  The reel has been sitting in Chicago and EMS tracking says  "Held for customs inspection"  It's been sitting there for 6 days.  My checking the tracking number ever hour has unsuccessfully sped up the process up lol.  Anyone have any experience with this?  Any ideas how long before I get to meet the newest addition to the family?

I've had packages come from all over the world 2 times month for years.  Norm for me is about 2 weeks, has happened is 6 days as well as 1 month +.  When they do get held up the tracking will say held in sorting facility (both country of origin and USPS) or held in customs, never have seen "held for inspection".  Only you are looking at the tracking #, no way an individual can speed up the process.  It comes when it comes and sometimes an item gets returned to sender, doubt that would happen with a reel.

Maybe they are making sure it works properly. Got to give them time to clean it up and repack it after testing and inspecting it's performance.

Maybe they are making sure it works properly. Got to give them time to clean it up and repack it after testing and inspecting it's performance.

Now that would be worth the wait if the bearings were already flushed!!

Is it a pretty common thing for these packages to get held up in customs?  I do hate knowing that the reel has come all the way from Japan and is now only 2 hours away from my house for the last week sitting in a warehouse

Is it a pretty common thing for these packages to get held up in customs?  I do hate knowing that the reel has come all the way from Japan and is now only 2 hours away from my house for the last week sitting in a warehouse

 

Nope, it ain´t common, you just got lucky !!!! 

What can I say? Some guys have all the luck, right?

Chicago seems to be the worst place to have a reel held too.  They held my Conquest for 3 weeks.  Be patient, it will eventually get released.

We are having this issue at work getting parts for customers.  They order them next day/2day air from Japan and they are getting held up in California.  The shipping costs are out of this world but it can be done.  These customers are red hot though and all we can do is send them the tracking numbers but they think it is somehow our fault. 

Once the vendor takes an item to the local post office you are at the mercy of several go betweens.  The local PO's sorting facility, incoming USPO sorting facility, customs, outbound sorting facility, your local PO sorting then out for delivery.

I don't know exactly how customs inspects packages, I believe it to be a random check.  I've had packages sail right thru and packages from the same vendor wrapped indentically returned to sender.  No doubt they are checking for contraband.

Happened to me a few weeks ago with a rod.  They usually take 4-5 days to arrive from Japan, this time it took 3 weeks +.  Nothing you can do but wait.

The wait continues!  At this point I've just accepted the fact that it will be sitting there a while.