Rip-off! Saving on base charge by shipping more parcels together is pointless
Latest 13/5/2020 update: After complaining, and waited for about a week. 2 of the packages with ridiculous volumetric weight has been repacked to something reasonable. Will upgrade to 2 stars, as this happened only after complain and not as the purchases were shipped into Vpost's warehouse. Had anyone foolishly accept it and continued without filing a complain, they would have been ripped off. (Vpost Japan) - Rip-off! Pointless to consolidate multiple parcels into one shipment to save on base charges. The disproportionate increase in volumetric weight will burn a big hole in your pocket. Vpost (being supposedly a logistics expert) has multiple restrictions on repackaging and it cannot be done for most cases. Read on for more details. Usually, the norm is for merchants to pack and ship products using a box that carries fundamentally more volumetric weight than the actual product weight - for obvious reasons, e.g. packaging materials, etc. When these boxes arrive into the Vpost warehouse, they are charged for shipment using their volumetric weight (this is clearly mentioned, so it is fair). However, you must be thinking that repacking means, Vpost being a logistical professional, would have the capabilities to find a "properly sized box", then, help you repack your contents from various merchants properly, and then charge you the final volumetric weight of that "properly sized box". This is NOT the case. Because of the endless list of restrictions and their lack of intention of absorbing any logistical risks (despite their services being not cheap) - the repacking is almost impossible. So what does repacking means? It means, taking the various boxes from the merchants that arrived in its original form and then lump it into a big box, and send it to Singapore. The incrementally huge volumetric weight from various boxes will burn a big hole in your pocket. DO NOT use this service. There are other service providers that really open up your various shipment and help you repack them into suitably sized box (at a small fee), and the end result is to help you manage the shipping charges to a more reasonable rate. Bad deal, avoid it. More reasonably priced service providers available. (Reply to vPost's comment): This is exactly why you will be ripped off. 1) You are still paying for the physical weight of those smaller boxes. 2) While merchant ships using a box that has a bigger volumetric weight than the product, it is improbable that it would be so big that could still accommodate the other smaller boxes. The professional way to handle this, is to use a separate suitably sized box (at a fee, of course) and take out the products from individual shipping box and then combine them and repack everything properly (at a fee again, of course) - surely, Vpost being the logistics specialist must have the capability to combine, repack and ship things properly. How can you refuse responsibilities by saying it may "potentially hinder the claims process in the event your package is lost or damaged during transit". If that happens then you simply take on the responsibilities of refund as per the relevant shipping agreement. Customers didn't ship their products for free with you! Doing business involves taking on responsibilities, and your freight are also insured with your shipper as the final value declared on the airway bill is CIF. Further to this extremely poor experience with Vpost, I done my research online, and found many other freight forwarders who could provide the repacking service by combining your purchases into a single box. The experience was so bad, I wished I never had started. Promptly went to delete the stored vPost shipping address from all my online shopping sites in case I used it accidentally in the future!