· Updated
By the HalfKey team
Full Tokyo parcel locker? How to collect your delivery
When your apartment's parcel locker is full, redelivery and collection may still be available. Use your tracking number to find the choices for that parcel, and check the pickup deadline before sending it to a shop or another locker.
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If your building's parcel lockers are full, check the parcel's tracking status before choosing a pickup point. You need to know whether the carrier still has it. A locker notice for a completed delivery needs a different response from a missed-delivery slip.
Your building manager can help with the 宅配ボックス (takuhai bokkusu — parcel locker), but requests to change delivery location go through the carrier. Have your tracking number ready when you contact it.
Scope and source check: 8 September 2026. This guide covers apartment-locker problems in Tokyo and selected national carrier alternatives. Options depend on the parcel, sender, account and receiving location. It does not promise that every parcel can be redirected.
Confirm where the parcel is
Read the notice and tracking together. If tracking shows an unsuccessful attempt, arrange redelivery or confirmed office collection. If it shows locker delivery, look for the compartment number and the building's opening instructions.
If you were home when the delivery failed, there may have been an entrance or intercom problem. Ask the carrier what prevented the handover if the notice does not explain it.
If tracking says delivered but the named compartment is empty, stop guessing codes. Keep the notice and contact the carrier about the delivery record. Ask the building manager to check the locker system through its normal support process. Never move someone else's parcel to make room.
Choose from the carrier's offered locations
Open the receiving options for your tracking number. The table gives you a starting point, but the options shown for your own parcel are the ones to use.
| Carrier | Start here | Condition that changes the choice |
|---|---|---|
| Yamato | Change receiving location | Convenience stores and PUDO lockers require Kuroneko membership. Parcel restrictions apply. |
| Japan Post | Convenience-store receiving | You need a Yu ID, confirmation that you live at the registered address, and delivery notifications. |
| Sagawa | Redelivery and pickup | Check the locations offered for your parcel, or call the delivery office. |
For Yamato's ordinary TA-Q-BIN service with postage already paid, add the box's length, width and height. Convenience-store collection allows a total of up to 100 cm and a weight of up to 10 kg. A box measuring 50 × 30 × 20 cm totals 100 cm; at 8 kg, it passes those two checks.
Refrigerated parcels and those you must pay for on arrival cannot use that option. Size alone does not qualify the parcel. Do not select a shop first and assume it will accept the box.
Japan Post lists Lawson, Ministop and FamilyMart for its eligible convenience-store receiving service. This is a registered service, not permission to write any store's address on an order. If you have just arrived and have not completed residence verification, arrange redelivery or ask Japan Post about an available counter collection instead.
Sagawa's receiving page includes offices, service centres, parcel lockers and partner stores. Use its current parcel-specific choices; do not assume another carrier's store network also serves Sagawa.
Wait for the collection notification
Wait for the collection notification before travelling. The initial confirmation may only acknowledge your request.
Save the exact location, collection code and deadline from that notification. A booking number, tracking number and collection barcode can serve different jobs. Bring the code and any identification named in the collection instructions.
Yamato's pickup page gives convenience-store and PUDO collection three days, counting from the available date. Japan Post's convenience-store service gives the delivery-to-store date plus seven days for a change before delivery, or plus three days for a redelivery change. Both say these periods cannot be extended.
For example, use 8 September as the starting date. Yamato counts 8, 9 and 10 September: collect by the 10th. Japan Post adds seven days for a change before delivery, giving 15 September, or three days for redelivery, giving 11 September. The same starting date gives three different deadlines.
Put the deadline from your own notice in your calendar. Do not apply a post-office hold period to a convenience-store parcel. If you cannot collect in time, contact the carrier before the deadline to find out what remains possible.
Use a different plan when the locker keeps filling
For your next order, check whether the seller offers a supported collection point during checkout. Select it through that service. Typing a shop or locker address into a normal home-address field does not create a collection booking.
For deliveries to the apartment, ask the manager:
- Which locker system should you use, and how do you open it?
- Does reception accept parcels, and during which hours?
- Are unattended deliveries allowed, and where?
- Who handles a locker fault or a missing pickup notice?
Check reception permission before naming the desk as the receiving place. If nobody can accept the parcel and the lockers are unreliable, choose a time when you can answer the intercom.
If tracking shows return to sender, contact the seller about reshipment or a refund. Confirm what's happening to the first order before buying a replacement.