Across the pond

The problem with building things in the UK is that all the interesting surplus equipment seems to be in the US. Because the axes are heavy they were expensive to ship. The shipping and duty cost me about as much as the items themselves. Worse than that the XY table took about three weeks via USPS when it was supposed to be 3 to 5 days.

23-01-2007 18:48     HOUSTON TX                     Enroute
24-01-2007 22:37     CAPE ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS)     Left origin country
04-02-2007 16:50     International Hub              Arrived in destination country
04-02-2007 17:23     International Hub              AWAITING CUSTOMS CHARGES
04-02-2007 17:23     International Hub              AWAITING CUSTOMS CHARGING
05-02-2007 21:57     International Hub              RELEASED WITH CHARGES
05-02-2007 23:33     International Hub              En route to delivery depot
06-02-2007 02:31     National Hub                   Sorted in hub
06-02-2007 14:42     Manchester Piccadilly Depot    Awaiting payment of charges
07-02-2007 07:33     Manchester Piccadilly Depot    Delivery rescheduled
08-02-2007 18:23     Manchester Piccadilly Depot    Delivery rescheduled
12-02-2007 16:09     Manchester Piccadilly Depot    Delivery rescheduled
13-02-2007 01:25     Manchester Piccadilly Depot    Out for delivery
13-02-2007 09:40     Manchester Piccadilly Depot    Parcel delivered

Mysteriously it spent 10 days in no man's land between the two countries. I didn't know planes could fly that slowly! To add insult to injury the UK Parcel Force failed to deliver it three times because "it was on the wrong shelf". In contrast the Z axis only took 6 days and although I ordered it much later they arrived together.