ZETSUBOU!!!!!

If there five-thousand-two-nine-eight, too, fairy golf cart republic, I'd that? Then, yonder ye ponder. Said the twiddle.

You could try downgrading to SAL like you said and try calling the post office and just asking them to hold it for you, and you could just pick it up. Not positive if they'll do that, but I'm pretty sure they will. I've had times where they've a note telling me they've came, and others when they just drop it off with no one home. I have a feeling your October won't be that expensive; there are bound to be some delays :/

it depends your location. i don't know about yours but i tried 2 times SAL, one of the time the thing went missing. after that i use EMS all the way. yeah, i share your despair. just blame ourselves for not been born in japan lol.

the registered SAL is more expensive abit than normal SAL but it has tracking number just like EMS, the speed should be the same as normal SAL. again, not sure bout yours, but my country's custom are dumb, they even hold my SAL HG rezel for one week, oh come on, it's just plastic.

There are two types of SAL- registered & unregistered. If you select registered, which is just about 5-7 bucks more, you get tracking & if you're package arrives when you're not home- they put it in the post office for you to pick up. But that's the only difference between them. Registered Sal is NOT faster than regular SAL. It simply means that they put your item in the post office instead of leaving it at your doorstep. Tracking isn't that big of a deal either- when you're working with something as slow as SAL, it's just downright depressing to see your package not change locations for weeks at a time.

My experiences with both: when I used Registered SAL, I ordered a nendoroid- it took a total of 36 days to arrive. What really ticked me off is the fact that it took roughly 5 days for it to go from Japan to the USA, but it took an extra 31 days for the package to get from New York to Ohio.(I could tell because of the tracking.) Mind you, this occured in March(not christmas or new years where the post office is flooded). Later on(April), I selected regular SAL(unregistered) for another nendoroid. This time, the package arrived in 10 days. This proved to me that just because you spend more money on Registered SAL, the same priority is given to the shipping time.

I live in a fairly safe neighborhood & I hate driving to the post office, so sometimes it's a plus when stuff is left at my doorstep. As for you, I'd try switching to registered SAL. Sure, you're stuff will arrive later- but isn't the anticipation for new figures the best part of buying them?

EMS is munch pricier, but you get your things much quicker. I think its worth the money especially after seeing that one post of how some handlers were tossing around SAL packages.