As a few of you probably know, I ordered a new guitar from the States last month. It was shipped via USPS Priority Mail International which is allegedly a 6-10 day service.

According to the tracking it left the USA on January 26th. It then arrived in the UK TODAY. I just hope to hell it is still in once piece after it's journey into the unknown. I was in no rush for this guitar, but not having a clue where it was has been the most frustrating experience.

If you're importing something from the USA and value your sanity, never, ever use this service. It really is a case of you get what you paid for. I now have probably at least a further week to wait while UK customs processes it...

I'm coming to find myself trusting the tracking information I get from UPS, or FedEx to be far more reliable than that of the USPS.

I could tell you a story about a compound bow I ordered from a guy in Atlanta, Georgia.
Long story short, i checked the traing number every day for 10 days when it was enroute.
The one day it said returned undeliverable.... to my business address.

In my opinion USPS is slow, and their information is never up to date.

I ship to my bud in OZ all the time through USPS, no problems. Your experience was an exception, not the norm.

I would cost you guys a hell of alot more to use another service.

I've used USPS for guitars twice before and to be fair they both arrived in the UK near enough on time. But those were on the express service which from what I've read seems much more reliable. I've been doing a lot of reading, trying to find some answers, and there is nothing but contempt for the priority mail service. It seems like they actually lose very, very few packages but the service is just unreliable with next to useless tracking. I read somewhere that money is so tight that they stockpile international mail in order to save on flights. Apparently they're teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

Next time I'll pay the extra $50 for FedEx (if there is a next time ). It's worth it to me just to avoid the headaches. Every guitar I've had delivered by them has been smooth sailing.

The store had initiated a trace 2 weeks ago to find out what the hell was going on, so I'll be interested to hear what went wrong.

Finally managed to pay the customs fees today after 3 days of trying, so fingers crossed tomorrow will be a NGD. Also, fingers crossed it will still be in one piece after all this...

If it doesn't come tomorrow I'll only have my ipad to take photos of it. bugger. Lending my camera out for 2 weeks on Thursday.

Well wouldn't you know it, they buggered it up and can't get it to me until tomorrow. I'm just going to go and (hopefully) pick it up myself from the depot this afternoon before I lose the camera.