Sofirn Warning! *Shipping Now Take Many Moons*

I have faith in the Chinese market and optimistic on my orders eventually getting to my door.

As the air cargo flights are reduced and the priority is for PPE, the logistics of booking a transport is most probably frantic. From the broker’s view, the scheduled shipping flights that are re-routed / cancelled / or prioritized make for heaps of merchandise that await a newer transit schedule. The tracking may not follow suit, may stall at some place, or just not be accountable anymore.

There is this exposé Air Cargo Coronavirus Problem by Wendover Productions. The airline industry has adapted to the demand, but the personnel has slowed with the outbreak (my take). Re-routing and other problems make the delivery times erratic. And the shuffling makes a more recent purchase gets thru before an older one.

I’ve got orders since March 1st idling somewhere. I don’t dare order anything last past 2 months, the waiting is just exacerbating. The irony; I have the time to work on some projects.

I may have spoke too soon as there has been no movement since it supposedly landed in L.A. on May 4th. Not holding out much hope of receiving it for my camping trip on Friday.

It took an LG UV-led from Simon 28 days from ordering to my letter box (no parcel, letter mail).
That’s about a week more than a year or so ago. Not bad, given the times we live in.

Before that, two separate parcels from Banggood made it in 39 days.
Letter mail from KD and FT was delivered in a bit over 7 weeks.

But I have a feeling that the (lack of) speed started almost a year ago.
When some world leaders got mixed up in a pissing contest.
All in all I would say that speed is up to normal, only normal isn’t what it used to be.

The above was about mail coming from China.
T&T shows that parcels within EU for no apparent reason come to a halt for a week or more.
Can’t imagine the Commander in Chief coming over to rattle my parcels in search for contraband.

Color me shocked and in love. Get to work today and there are 2 Sofirn SP10S flashlights here that Sofirn sent to me from the Sofirn store in NY. (I have had a single one on order since Jan 21st still stuck in China). There was no note or paperwork, just 2 brand new well packed excellent SP10S flashlight kits (with charger). If anyone starts a “Best vendor thread” of companies that have gone “above and beyond” to take good care of their customers please add this post to it and make sure Sofirn is on top of the list.

THANK YOU SOFIRN I LOVE YOU!!!

Definitely nice that they rectified it and then some.

I guess Sofirn has no leverage with the shipping companies once a package gets to the airline.
My March 21st order is still claiming after 3 weeks to be somewhere between China and the US.
And a few subsequent orders haven’t even gotten that far. Oh, well.

Nice! I may order from Sofirn after all…

I believe that much of what is shipped from China by e-packet mail has traveled on commercial airliners in the hold under the passengers. Air travel is down 96% for the same time a year ago. At the same time the freight aircraft are in huge demand and those shipping rates have multiplied several times over what thay used to be. So much so that our simple, inexpensive flashlight orders are never going to come fast until the airline industry recovers some.

@MtnDon …/

The demand is very high for cargo, so the passenger seats are filled with boxes. Somewhat time consuming task, but the industry has adapted.

There is this very good YouTube video by Wendover:

Air Cargo Corona Virus Problem

That old “Slow boat from China” might currently be the fastest and most reliable carrier.

Good thing freight isn’t stored as extra baggage on cruise liners.

they are not kidding it does take many moons, my prize light was shipped out by skilhunt on 4\10, on 4\13 it got to SHEN ZHEN, United States Dedicated Service, there has been no update since then,

I got my reflector spacers from LHT Flashlight Store (AE) today, plus a T12 soldering tip I ordered back on March 5th! Wo hoo. Here’s the strange part: the spacers came shipped from Hebron, Kentucky! Not China? Weird. Although I do remember an emitter I ordered from KD come almost 2 months later (ordered Jan 3rd, arrived Feb 25th) showed shipped from California. Odd stuff going on with China shipping.

Well, I have, let’s see, five flashlights ordered and in the pipeline, ordered from ali/Sofirn since March.

Time I simmered down.

Yep, my 4/3 Sofirn order is still in Nanning (since 4/9). Another order from Hank has been on the slow boat for almost 3 weeks now with no update.

Sofirn said they talked to the shipping companies to get their stuck packages moving, but nothing came of it yet.

Hopefully we see movement soon.

I’d imagine he has even less leverage. I’m assuming he’s using a shipping broker to make arrangements with multiple shipping companies, so he’s not even the “client” of the shipper — the broker is. Worse, for most of us, there are multiple shippers involved with each order. Figure there’s some domestic Chinese shipper which takes the package from his shop to the port, where it’s handed off to some international shipper. Then there’s the destination shipper.

I’ve had numerous times where USPS has lost certified domestic mail and I got absolutely nowhere with them. I can only imagine the nightmare of having multiple shippers and a broker involved must add to it.

Just to give other forum members some idea of how long shipping’s taking, I’m posting my orders and will keep updating this post.

Updated June 17th, 2020

Order #1: (46 days and counting)
Order placed May 2, 2020
Order shipped May 5, 2020 (3 days)

2020-06-16 23:23, FEDEX SMARTPOST LOS ANGELES, CA, Departed FedEx location
2020-06-16 17:32, FEDEX SMARTPOST LOS ANGELES, CA, Arrived at FedEx location
2020-06-09 09:11, Shipment information sent to FedEx
2020-05-07 05:19, Last mile=> FEDEX, number
2020-05-07 03:19, Departed from Yanwen Facility
2020-05-06 02:58, Process completed in Yanwen Facility
2020-05-05 18:58, 燕文仓, Created
2020-05-05 15:09, Picked up

Order #2:
Order placed May 25, 2020
Order has not yet shipped as of June 8th, 2020 (23 days)
Tracking detail:
None yet since they’ve not shipped it yet.

I was hoping to get these in time for hurricane season… Looks like it might be hurricane season 2021 at this rate.

Still waiting with no movement. I see Amazon will have them in stock on June 6th. I would have been happy to pay the extra $20 to avoid this. Done with ordering from China for the foreseeable future.

I second that. Ordered my Spfirn SP10s from their Amazon US store, free 1.5 day shipping Prime for like $18. Ordered Friday early AM had it Sunday. On Aliexpress it would have been about $16 after tax with their free shipping that takes 1.5 months. You almost get to the point of diminishing returns while the cov8d deal is going down…ordering from Ch8na is not the cheaper option in all cases anymore.

When you order from Ali you wait for 1 month and if the product does not work or is damaged you are left to fight it out and rely on Paypal or credit card as leverage.

vs Amazon, 2 days to maybe 5 business days at most and if it is screwed up, el no problemo, instant authorization to return and credit back to you once the UPS tracking kicks in usually.

Also got the SP10S with the 351 emitter yesterday and can’t put it down.
Own all the other versions and this one is the sheet.

Later,
Keith

It’s an awesome light. Sofirns genius for putting in the 351 in a single AA/14500 light. Such a great emitter that doesnt get enough love. Even on the nimh laddaloop it’s really bright and the beam and high cri are amazing. Only thing that’s taken getting used to is locking it out (or it turns on in pocket) and the fact that moon isn’t the first mode.