David, your experience is obviously a valid basis for your views.

Please don't take my response as a disregard for your advice, because I've read your entire post and I agree with everything you've said - to a point.

No disrespect to your past experience. I'm having a hard time mentally with this effort and I've only been doing it as an amateur for a bit over three weeks.

Having said that, I respectfully, let's see how to say this, not so much "disagree" but maybe "semi-agree" with the issues you highlight:

>> those damned stupid Americans, sending us stuff we don't need

I am in no way part of the marketing dept. (just a low-level guy that gets you coffee in the morning), but I have to say in defense of what I'm trying to do, small, lightweight, non-perishable, individually-vacuumed sealed bags of micro-ground instant coffee that can be made with hot OR cold water, I have been specifically told by numerous groups over there, would, if not be needed, definitely be very welcomed.

EVEN IF they never get totally "upstream" the volunteers who are privately making trips to bring supplies while the government/Red Cross is still in the "planning" stages are often times running on very, very little sleep. Something so simple as being able to shake a water bottle with some flavored instant coffee could the moral (not to mention the driving alertness) of some very, very exhausted people. And it may find its way even further up the chain.

As for custom inspections, I don't know it off-hand but there is an international agreement that Japan is part of where during disasters if you mark the shipments in a specific way, many pass through customs or, if they have to be inspected, are designated "priority" and rush-inspected.

As for the money being sent, well, there are "big agencies" like the Red Cross which raise tons of money and then find themselves in the crosshairs of Bill O'Reilly types again, and again, and again months and months after any disaster when it comes to light that not very much of the money raised actually went to the relief effort people thought they were donating to.

As for the fluidity part, here's an example of the fluidity I've come to learn of from speaking to counterparts in Japan: not only is the Red Cross advice of "it's cheaper for them to buy locally" not true since understaffed relief agencies have to waste time actually doing the buying, but in Japan's case, they would have to buy the supplies in the VERY EXPENSIVE south to transport to the cheaper north, the problem being the supplies in the north are either gone on the east coast or being hoarded in the west.

Oh, and with the recent radiation scare, bottled water is so expensive all of a sudden that it would actually be cheaper for them to use water sent from the U.S. for their relief efforts.

So, general truisms may be based from years of experience the Red Cross has in doing relief, but as you say, the situation is fluid and these truisms don't seem to be holding so true anymore, at least for Japan.

As far as the "distribution past that point" I've found groups that have done it, and are ready and willing to do more.

As for the tracking, I just spent and hour speaking with a lady from this organization who would like to merge efforts:

http://www.sparkrelief.org

And you're right, a YouTube clip or two don't convey an accurate picture.

But since our store is near one of these:

http://www.mitsuwa.com/english/

I can tell by the still-sullen looks on many people's faces and the never-ending phone calls that employees make on their breaks and lunches, not to mention the expression on their faces, that while the situation is "fluid" the suffering is still very much present.

So, you're right - items donated to charities may wind up in warehouses as they've done in the past.

But TV tells me that money seems to be no different in many cases.

And I've learned something interesting while doing all this.

People who won't put $10 towards a donation effort will gladly buy $50-100 worth of something or donate much more than that in sweat if they can feel useful and perceive that their effort is actually going somewhere other than an account at JP Morgan or what-have-you.

I agree with you about the clogs and bottlenecks. But even though I'm by far no expert, the "fuzzy picture" that seems to be emerging is that there is not just the good will impulse but tiny dots of, I don't know, network meshes of people of goodwill that are trying to connect with each other all over the place and trying to bypass the big charities altogether.

No warehouse, just people ready to collect and people ready to roll up their sleeves and distribute. Not make plans to distribute, but actually get in their own cars on their own time and take packages out with their own hands.

I know it's messy but I've come across so many people who are trying to take matters into their own hands, both as individuals and groups and if we can't use all the technology we have these days to do something like this at this point, then, I don't know, what's the point of life?

I may be naive or something but at the same time something in me just refuses to believe that in this day and age when some folks can send a flying drone halfway across the planet to kill somebody, it's an absolute impossibility to send people diapers, powdered milk and instant coffee, with all the know-how and internet communication platforms that are around.

I just can't accept this reality.

But I thank you for your thoughtful reply.