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Updates: Our operations during wartime

We appreciate our customers' ongoing support. A quick note of thanks: During the 12 days of daily missile attacks from Iran, with the entire airspace completely shut down, we had two or three dozen express parcels that had been dispatched, but just sat at the airport untouched for a week or two. Yet not one single customer contacted us to complain or cancel!

Update, 29 Sivan (25 Jun.) - Now that we have a ceasefire in place (on one of the 3-4 fronts we have to contend with), the airspace is fully open and shipping services are back to normal – almost. We estimate that it will take just a few business days for UPS and DHL to get the piles of parcels out of the country, but based on past experience it will probably take Israel Post a lot longer. That means we advise our customers to take into consideration that First Class shipping could take a week or two longer than usual.

Update, 28 Sivan (24 Jun.) - All three of our shipping services – DHL, UPS and Israel Post – provided pickup service today. How long it takes to get all the accumulated, grounded parcels into cargo holds and up into the air is another story. As we write these lines, even today's ceasefire is in question. On the other hand, some encouraging signs: (1) there have been a handful of departures and (2) our DHL liaison says they are starting to get parcels out of the country (though we have yet to see this in the tracking data). 

Update, 24 Sivan (20 Jun.) - DHL has notified us that they have started dispatching parcels that have accumulated in their logistics center at the airport, and on Sunday will resume pickup service. (Indeed, this post indicates that there has been some freight shipping this week, by El Al and Challenge Airlines IL, via New York, Liège, Athens, Frankfurt and Zurich.) We're waiting for a service update from UPS. Israel Post will likely keep all parcels grounded next week, and possibly longer. 

Update, 22 Sivan (18 Jun.) - Both DHL and UPS have sent us official notices that they are not providing pickup services as long as the skies are closed, but in practice UPS did a pickup on Sunday and DHL did a pickup on Tuesday – both unexpectedly. Israel Post has apparently resumed pickups. However, none of these parcels will go very far, since the only planes taking off are combat planes, and they're all headed east. We're hoping these pickups do give our customers a slight advantage since they should be "at the head of the line" when flights resume. Surprisingly, about half of our suppliers are in operation, so we're well stocked, and it looks like businesses will be resuming normal operations on Thurs.

Update, 19 Sivan (15 Jun.) - Israel Post canceled today's pickup and at this point it looks likely they will cancel the Tues. pickup as well. DHL notified us that they are not doing pickups as long as the airspace remains shut down. Surprisingly, UPS is doing pickups, although obviously those parcels won't get very far as long as there are no flights at all. Officially the entire airspace has been shut down until Wed., but that might get extended. Though no parcels are leaving the country at present, we are able to continue preparing orders.

Update, 17 Sivan (13 Jun. 2025) - Well, here we go again... We took this page down and didn't post any updates for the past six months. But our customers might now wonder what's going on here in the office. It's now just six hours since the war alert, so obviously we don't have a very clear picture of what's in store next week. We are taking orders and preparing orders, but our assessment is that we might not have pickups by any of the shipping companies we use (Israel Post, UPS and DHL) at the start of next week, and possibly beyond, based on the info posted by the National Emergency Portal.

Update, 24 Kislev (24 Dec.) - First Class shipping to USA addresses is typically slower in December, and this year seems to be no exception. We reviewed shipping times for parcels sent in the first half of the month. The parcels dispatched on 3 Dec. have now all been delivered (avg. shipping time 16.6 days), but all of the later batches do not seem to be faring as well, which we attribute to the high demand on the USPS system in the second half of Dec. We've had no issues with DHL shipping. Note that we are started to phase in UPS as a third option. For customers in Canada, we're anticipating significant slowdown in Canada over the next few weeks, based on this advisory, and the banner on the Canada Post website: "We thank you for your patience as stabilizing operations will take time." We recommend our Canadian customers considering opt for our UPS or DHL options instead of First Class.

Update, 27 Tishrei (29 Oct.) - We're now back in action following the long Sukkot shutdown. It's challenging to analyze shipping times, since many recent shipments ran into Yom Tov and Chol HaMoed, however it seems that many of the orders sent First Class to the US over the past month got delivered within two weeks, however, many other orders seem to be grounded in Israel at the airport, waiting for cargo space to become available. So if you might be placing a time-sensitive orders, you'll definitely want to consider our express shipping option. We also checked First Class to Australia over the past six months. About three-fourths of those parcels got delivered within three weeks, but several took as long as 5-7 weeks. (Hopefully we'll get a chance to check stats for the UK, Europe and Canada as well.)

Update, 26 Elul (29 Sept.) - Following the dramatic assassination in Beirut on Fri., this morning we received a boastful message from our DHL liaison essentially saying the skies are still open for DHL. On the other hand, we're anticipating the very real possibility that significant suspension of flight service by numerous airlines – following the European Union's advisory to avoid Israeli and Lebanese airspace through 31 Oct. – will hamper Israel Post's ability to arrange space in cargo holds of passenger planes for First Class and EMS shipments, which would in turn cause significant delays. Also, since some organizations may opt to switch from Israel Post to express couriers, the added demand could impact DHL shipping time somewhat; our working assumption, at this point, is that DHL shipping time could be 1-2 business days slower than usual.

Update, 21 Elul (24 Sept.) - It seems overall shipping time for First Class to the United States is a bit slower than usual, in part because although Israel Post generally routes parcels destined for western states via Los Angeles and parcels headed to the eastern half of the country via New York, due to altered flight schedules, some parcels are not taking the shorter route, e.g. a package to Florida might first get flown to LA.

Update, 14 Elul (17 Sept.) - Based on a quick survey of recent tracking data, First Class parcels to the US have been leaving Israel within a relatively short time period, however, First Class (and even EMS) to some other countries (e.g. UK, Australia) seems to be compromised. No issues with DHL.

Update, 18 Av (22 Aug.) - First class parcels that left our office last Tues. took 7-8 days to get out of the country, which is definitely slower than usual, and the bottle-necking at the airport, due to flight reductions, could get worse. On the other hand, processing of parcels inside the US has been efficient lately, so overall First Class shipping times to US addresses might not be impacted significantly at this point. Again, DHL shipments are doing fine, since they are not reliant on passenger flights.

Update, 4 Av (8 Aug.) - Obviously we do have our concerns – given all the sword-rattling to the north and east. When the Simchat Torah war started ten months ago, and Israel was caught off-guard, we did have brief service interruptions by the two shipping companies we work with, but we were able to resume normal operations within days. Therefore, if the security situation again destabilizes, we're hoping to maintain service very close to normal. Note that Israel Post uses cargo space on passenger flights, and since some airlines have reduced flights to and from Israel, delays for orders sent Registered, First Class and EMS are likely. On the other hand, DHL uses their own fleet, and it's very rare that they cancel flights out of Israel, therefore if your order is time-sensitive, we recommend you opt for DHL, in light of uncertainties. 

Update, 19 Sivan (25 Jun.) - For the past two weeks, Israel Post has been skipping Sunday pickups, so instead of three pickups per week, we've had only two. The regular driver on our route is off for a few weeks, and the dispatch center has a driver shortage because some of the drivers were called up for reserve duty. In short, if this continues, in some cases it could increase First Class shipping times by two days. DHL shipping is not affected.

Update, 5 Sivan (11 Jun.) - We won't be available to provide customer service this week on Tues., Wed. and Thurs. due to Shavuot. Also note that the shipping services are not operational on Tues. and Wed. of this week, so that will increase shipping times slightly.

Update, 4 Iyar (12 May) - The average shipping times for the last three pickups before Passover was 12 days for First Class parcels to the US; for the first batch dispatched after Passover the average was quite speedy – just 8 days. Please note that this week we have no pickups on Memorial Day (Mon.) and Independence Day (Tues.), both of which are national holidays.

Update, 6 Nissan (14 Apr.) - This morning both Israel Post and DHL drivers did today's scheduled pickups as usual, despite the Iranian attack. Since the short airport shutdown disrupted flights, that could have a ripple effect, which could slow down Israel Post shipments (First Class and EMS), but is unlikely to have any impact on DHL shipping times. Also, any orders placed this week are likely to dispatch on Thurs. or Sun., which is only 1-2 business days before Passover, which means they might be subject to significant delays.

Update, 19 Adar II (29 Mar.) - Average shipping time for First Class parcels sent to the US during the first half of March was 14 days. Note that winter weather sometimes has an impact.

Update, 9 Adar II (19 Mar.) - While reviewing shipping times for First Class parcels sent to the US in late Feb. and early Mar., we were surprised to see a significant number of shipments were held for customs inspections, which has been fairly uncommon in the past. Customers whose order is time-sensitive might want to consider our express shipping option.
Note: We are closed on Sunday for Purim, and our staff will be working minimal hours on Monday (Shushan Purim), so essentially we're headed toward a four-day weekend.

Update, 17 Adar I (26 Feb.) - Typical shipping time for First Class parcels has been around two weeks during Feb. Note that this week we have no shipping pickups on Tues., due to the elections in Israel.

Update, 18 Shevat (28 Jan.) - Typical shipping time for First Class parcels has been two weeks or less this month. (Parcels sent to the US last week may be subject to delays; the USPS website currently has a notice posted regarding severe weather conditions.) DHL Express takes 2-3 business days to most US locations.

Update, 22 Tevet (3 Jan.) - First Class shipping times have become much faster. Given the large volume of shipping in the US and other countries during the first half of Dec. every year, the slow shipping times we saw were fairly predictable. Since then shipping time has dropped dramatically; typical shipping time appears to be 10-20 days for First Class. Regarding DHL express, during the third week of Dec. shipping times were a bit longer than usual, but now are averaging just 3-4 business days.

Update, 8 Tevet (20 Dec.) - DHL shipping is fine. Regarding our First Class shipping option, based on our review of the shipping data since the middle of November, it looks like First Class shipping to the US is leaving Israel within five business days after dispatch from our office, however, many parcels appear to be sitting unscanned at the International Sorting Centers in the US. Presumably this is a result of bottlenecking at USPS due to the heavy volume of parcels handled in the US every year during the month of December. If so, we expect shipping times to start improving shortly. Regarding parcels sent around the beginning of Dec., shipping time appears to be 2-5 weeks via First Class, while express shipping via DHL is typically 2-3 business days.

Update, 14 Kislev (27 Nov.) - DHL shipping is fine. Regarding our First Class shipping option, based on our review of the shipping data since the start of November, it looks like First Class shipping to the US is now around 2-3 weeks, in most cases.

Update, 28 Cheshvan (12 Nov.) - DHL shipping is fine. Regarding our First Class shipping option, based on our current assessments of tracking data, we're cautiously optimistic that First Class shipping, which was typically around 10 days until the war, and around 20 days in the initial weeks of the war, is now somewhere in between.  

Update, 23 Cheshvan (7 Nov.) - We're pleased to report that all the US-bound First Class parcels dispatched in mid-Oct., which were grounded in Israel for about two weeks, are now starting to move along in the US and some have already been delivered. DHL continues to uphold their usual 2-3 business days shipping times. 

Update, 18 Cheshvan (2 Nov.) - Today we spoke with a contact at Israel Post's department for international commercial shippers. She told us the severe bottlenecking is starting to ease slightly, i.e. they are starting to find a bit of space for some First Class parcels on flights. However, we still caution our customers that we would be surprised if First Class shipping gets up to speed in the next few weeks, therefore opting for our DHL express option is highly advisable. We reviewed all of the shipping data for the orders sent via DHL during Oct. and did not see any noticeable slowdown in shipping times (in most cases 2-3 business days).  

Update, 14 Cheshvan (29 Oct.) - The portal for Israel Post's commercial customers had a notice saying the wartime policy would be to maintain Israel Post service normally as a vital public service. They have now posted a new notice: "Due to the significant reduction in the number of outgoing flights from Israel as a consequence of the Swords of Iron War, delays in cargo transport are expected, including parcels to foreign countries. We are making every effort to transport the parcels to their respective destinations as soon as possible, and at this stage parcel shipping to other countries remains available, despite the possibility of delays."

After reviewing our shipments, we see that although a few parcels to Europe have left the country, all shipments to the US since 12 Oct. remain grounded in Israel. Therefore we urge all customers who would like to place an order to strongly consider our DHL option. 

Regarding Israel Post shipments already en route, we will do our best to update those customers, and hope the bottleneck of grounded parcels will ease very soon. 

Update, 8 Cheshvan (23 Oct.) - Both the DHL and Israel Post pickups were carried out as scheduled yesterday.

Update, 2 Cheshvan (17 Oct.) - Both the DHL and Israel Post pickups were carried out as scheduled this morning. A quick glance at the tracking data shows that DHL parcels are leaving the country right away and Israel Post parcels without inordinate delay.

Update, 30 Tishrei (15 Oct.) - Both the DHL and Israel Post pickups were carried out as scheduled this morning.

Update, 27 Tishrei (12 Oct.) - Both the DHL and Israel Post pickups were carried out as scheduled this morning. Next week we'll start checking the tracking data to see if Israel Post parcels are delayed leaving Israel.  

Update, 26 Tishrei (11 Oct.) - The DHL driver came for pickup as scheduled again today. He said pickups are operating as usual (except in the South).

Update, 25 Tishrei (10 Oct.) - Both the DHL and Israel Post pickups were carried out as scheduled this morning. 

Update, 24 Tishrei (9 Oct.) - DHL informed us that many of their drivers are reservists who were called up for military duty. We might not have pickup service until tomorrow. We also checked with Israel Post. They said tomorrow's pickup "depends on the security situation."

Product availability: When it comes to procurement, almost all our suppliers are working normally, but note that it might take them a bit longer to transport orders to us (domestic shipping has slowed down, largely because many drivers got called up for reserve duty). However, this should not be felt by our customers, since we keep track of the vast majority of our inventory electronically, which means if a certain size is out of stock, you'll see that right away and won't be able to place an order.

A notable exception to the above is Gabrieli hand-woven tallits. They now have a significant backlog because right after the Sukkot shutdown they had a war shutdown, and after the one-week war shutdown, half of their weavers were afraid to come back to work. Their bomb shelter is about 50 meters from the weaving studio, and some of the weavers are unable to get there on time when the sirens sound. So the studio manager has notified us that for the time being, turnaround time will be slower than usual.

For our customers who are interested in keeping abreast of developments in Israel, here are a few helpful links:

• IDF real-time operational updates (if you can read Hebrew, you'll note that the Hebrew version is more up-to-date)
• Israel Homefront Command Updates and News Flashes 
• The Jewish Press
• World Israel News
• Elder of Ziyon - Israel news blog