national

Yamato deliveryman kept 2,723 packages at home because he was 'too busy' to deliver them

30 Comments

Yamato Transport said Monday that one of its deliverymen in Sapporo had kept 2,723 packages and other items at his home because he was too busy to deliver them.

According to Yamato Transport, the undelivered items had been sent from 463 branches all over Japan, and were supposed to be delivered by the Sawa branch in Sapporo from last April to January, Sports Nippon reported. The failure came to light when a company contacted Yamato to report that they hadn’t received a package as expected.

Yamato Transport has since fired the deliveryman who said he had another job and he got so busy that he couldn't make all his deliveries for Yamato.

Yamato also apologized to all the senders and has finished delivering all the items. None were lost.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

30 Comments
Login to comment

In 9 months only one person/company reported an undelivered package? Hard to believe..

21 ( +21 / -0 )

expected behavior from an underpaid worker.

-26 ( +1 / -28 )

Fully expect these packages were "Kuroneko Mail-Bin" items which don't require a name-stamp for delivery. I get about a dozen every week - all freebie magazines and shopping catalogues. If they suddenly stopped I would notice - and then breath a sigh of relief.

-5 ( +6 / -11 )

"He got so busy that he couldn’t make all his deliveries for Yamato."

Ever noticed how delivery companies have their workers run?

I think they just overworked him and threw him away when they were done.

Out of 2,723 packages - "None were lost" proves my point.

Unless of course you think that there'd be no way to know as they couldn't be delivered in the first place..

1 ( +4 / -3 )

I'm surprised the story doesn't go on to say he got arrested for theft

2 ( +4 / -2 )

He could not have been a proper Japanese man. A real Japanese man would have worked around the clock for as long as it took, sacrificing family and self for the company. What is Japan coming to.

1 ( +10 / -9 )

I think Yamato and Sagawa and all those delivery companies offer absolutely sterling service. In fact, the only one I wouldn't recommend is DHL, which is rubbish on redelivery flexibility.

If the parcels had been important / expected, people would have called the Yamato office to ask what had happened - I have done that a couple of times, and they have always immediately sorted it out.

I suspect they were, as roylance.norton says, just junk mail, and the delivery guy knew this. This luck ran out with the one package.

10 ( +13 / -3 )

Been using Yamato to many many years. This one bad apple won't spoil my thoughts. Yamato is much better than the other delivery services.the best in my books.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

No, what's amazing is how rare something like this is in Japan.

Japan has the best delivery services in the world, without a doubt.

11 ( +14 / -3 )

I suppose better late than never.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

"None were lost" proves my point.

Unless of course you think that there'd be no way to know as they couldn't be delivered in the first place..

You do know that every package is booked into the system on receipt, and can be tracked online from that moment to the time it reaches its destination? It's not like a postcard that you drop into a postbox and hope for the best.

The Japanese delivery services are the best. More than once I've slipped up ordering things from overseas companies to be delivered within that country, only to find that what would take one day (if that) in Japan can take a week or more elsewhere.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

The other day one of these delivery companies (I can't remember which) came when I was out and suggested that he left the package in our outhouse. I am pretty sure that was against the rules, but I was very grateful for his flexibility.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The other day one of these delivery companies (I can't remember which) came when I was out and suggested that he left the package in our outhouse.

Probably Kuroneko. The deliveryman knows me and he just puts it in the gas meter next to the front door. I love it because I can't always be home between 9-8.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Sounds like one of those stories from the USA when the mailman keeps stacks of letters in his home.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

probably most were amazon style where amazon would typically reimburse any lost item still yamato is super efficient service, I wish they took over the lazy fat japan post

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

"He got so busy that he couldn’t make all his deliveries for Yamato."

Ever noticed how delivery companies have their workers run?

I think they just overworked him and threw him away when they were done.

Out of 2,723 packages - "None were lost" proves my point.

Unless of course you think that there'd be no way to know as they couldn't be delivered in the first place..

What are you talking about exactly?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I wish they took over the lazy fat japan post

Some people don't know diddley-squat about Japan. Japan Post is very efficient, they have a 24-hour window for out-of-hours postage and for picking up parcels, they have an automated redelivery phone service, they have a post office account which is one of the most reasonable for transactions, and the ATM is multi-lingual, they will keep your post for up to a month if you go away, they will redirect it for year at a time, no limit, when you move house, the staff are invariably helpful and efficient. They have international money remittance, and will happily give you information on the fastest/safest/cheapest way to send stuff overseas. Privatisation at its best.

The only thing you, the customers, need to do, is speak a bit of Japanese to get by, and be polite.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

I think they just overworked him and threw him away when they were done.

But they didn't overwork and throw away the thousands of other deliverymen they employ? I guess they just hated him in particular?

I have done business with Yamato for a number of years, and they are polite, hardworking, and efficient. They have a pickup station near my office, and it is a well-run and cheerful place.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Timely. Last week some of my students complained angrily about the deteriorating service of a certain delivery company represented by a black feline. One of the students was expecting a package of seafood for a birthday party to arrive in the morning, but it didn't come until 8:00PM, when the party had already finished. Her whole family was extremely disappointed, and the delivery man didn't offer any kind of explanation, only empty apologies. It was obvious that he'd been trying to save time by bunching all the deliveries in the same neighborhood.

Other students complained about chilled products that had obviously been left out at room temp, etc, or packages that arrived reeking of cigarette smoke.

Personally I feel that the delivery personnel are overworked and underpaid, and I don't really blame them for trying to cut corners.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Interestingly enough.... the top 3 express mail services worldwide were all born in the USA. UPS, FedEx and DHL. Although DHL was eventually bought by zi Germans.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

I also really love all the local delivery services, including Japan Post and Kuroneko. They'll bend over backwards to accommodate your schedule. In the case of Kuroneko, Sagawa and Seino, their delivery attempt slips have the driver's phone number on them. Dhl is horrible though, since you have to call a manual (although bilingual) scheduling service to agree on a new date and same day weekend deliveries are unavailable. The best thing to do with DHL is to ignore their messages for a couple of days and they will transfer your parcel to Kuroneko.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Great story. wonder what the package tracker said.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Where in his home did he have room for 2,700-odd packages? He must either live out of the city limits or is keeping busy in the city doing something that pays a lot more than delivering packages.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Years ago in India, some postman was sentenced to over 4,000 years in jail for the same thing....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The problem for me is that the delivery services are too good that my wife gets annoyed when they come back 3 times in one day to try to deliver a package, before I even apply for re-delivery. So now I just have small packages delivered to a nearby Lawson, which means more work for me of course.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

That's one way to "Go POSTAL"!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I've found takyubin delivery services, here in Japan, to be great, even in rural stress like where I live.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Know what you are saying, DaDude. My son orders lots of stuff, and the deliveryman doesn't even bother to knock; he just opens the door and calls my name. Then again, I live in Kumamoto.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Several years ago, I had boxes picked at my aptment by Japan Post for overseas delivery. The maximum allowed weight to my destination was 20kg per box. One of them was 20.1kg on the deliveryman's portable scale. I kid you not, he said I would hav

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Several years ago, I had boxes picked at my aptment by Japan Post for overseas delivery. The maximum allowed weight to my destination was 20kg per box. One of them was 20.1kg on the deliveryman's portable scale. I kid you not, he said I would have to remove something so I fished around until I found a cassette tape!! after which it just went under 20kg. He then gave the finger sign "OK". If nothing else, I learned that day that a cassette tape weighs about 100g.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites