K A S H R U T . C O M_©

Overseas Companies Renew Israel Shipping After Virus Orders Eased

May 10, 2020 - from Hamodia:

"The e-commerce giant Amazon announced that it has relaunched its shipping services to Israel after deliveries had been halted following the coronavirus outbreak."

"Israeli consumers, however, might be left disappointed since the free shipping option – normally offered by Amazon on purchases over $49 – has not been renewed and it appears the company only offers express shipping at a much higher price."

"The company stopped shipping to Israel on March 22, saying it would focus on deliveries of essential goods within the U.S. and few other selected countries."

"Amazon in the past offered a cheaper shipping option with a longer waiting period, along with express shipping via companies such as DHL and UPS – which now is the only shipping option for Israeli customers, mostly due to the limited traffic of commercial flights during the pandemic."

"Amazon was not the only online retailer to resume shipments to Israel: British retailer Next also started to take orders from Israel after their website was closed for a few weeks. The clothing giant said that to ensure the safety of warehouse staff, it will only take a limited number of orders each day, then slowly start rolling out full service."

"According to Globes, the local retail industry estimates that Next makes hundreds of millions of shekels worth of sales in Israel every year, helped in part by its policy of free delivery on orders of over NIS 100 (approximately $28)."

"The resumption of deliveries to Israel by Amazon and Next comes as Israel has begun easing restrictions to contain the coronavirus after six weeks of closures."

COVID-19 Suspends Postal Service from US to Israel

May 14, 2020 USPS International service disruptions: Service to Israel no longer suspended.
From a reader: Israel was taken off the list on May 7, and they are accepting packages and mail for Israel.

COVID-19 Suspends Postal Service from US to Israel

April 27, 2020 - from Jewish Press:

"The USPS is suspending the international mail for certain destinations (not just Israel, by the way) due to service impacts related to the pandemic — including Israel — under the category of "Suspension Due to Unavailability of Transportation."

A service alert at the USPS International site page reads:

• Please refrain from mailing items addressed to ISRAEL until further notice.
• These service disruptions affect Priority Mail Express International, Priority Mail International, First-Class Mail International, First-Class Package International Service, International Priority Airmail, International Surface Air Lift, and M-Bag items.
• Items will be returned with “SERVICE SUSPENDED”.
• Upon request, postage and fees will be refunded.
• nless otherwise noted, service suspensions to a particular country do not affect delivery of military and diplomatic mail.

"Israel Postal Service: Can’t Promise 'Standards' On the Israel side of the ocean, the following applies:

• The Israel Postal Service advises it will continue to process incoming and outgoing mail, giving priority to premium services such as express mail service and PRIME, and will make every effort to ensure regular distribution of mail.
• However, due to government restrictions to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, the postal service can no longer guarantee service delivery standards and is invoking force majeure with respect to such standards.
• Additionally, a signature is no longer required for items requiring signature upon delivery, and such items will be left at the door after being scanned and photographed to prove that delivery has been made."