Departed London on the 12th
No sign of it in sunny Preston yet!! Where the hell is it??
:drums fingers:

September 12, 2017 07:53 LONDON,UNITED KINGDOM DEPARTED
September 11, 2017 19:42 DETROIT,UNITED STATES DEPARTED
September 11, 2017 01:00 CHICAGO,UNITED STATES DEPARTED
September 10, 2017 13:49 CHICAGO,UNITED STATES ARRIVED
September 10, 2017 05:21 ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS) PROCESSED THROUGH FACILITY
September 9, 2017 09:45 ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS) ARRIVED AT FACILITY
September 9, 2017 09:28 IN TRANSIT TO DESTINATION
September 8, 2017 16:28 CHICAGO,IL,60647 USPS IN POSSESSION OF ITEM

A courier van driver in London has a nice new bike.

Customs payment demand from the courier on its way to you now.

Sat in customs?

September 12, 2017 07:53 LONDON,UNITED KINGDOM DEPARTED

Customs payment demand from the courier on its way to you now.

T’was only £80, I don’t think customs charges apply.

According to this page: https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

VAT is payable on anything over £15 and Customs Duty on anything over £135.

This happened to me with a couple of packages I ordered recently (in the last couple of weeks). They seem to sit in heathrow WDC for anything between a couple of days to a week while HMRC process the customs charges. You will have to pay VAT plus £8 Royal Mail handling fee. They charge VAT on the item plus the cost of delivery. I find it always seems more than 20% so they must use a really poor exchange to work out the value in pounds to then work out the VAT. I had about three packages come from the states (2x USPS and 1 by DHL Global Mail) and every package got customs charges. They seem to be checking a lot more recently or I have been very unlucky. The VAT and RM charge has put me off ordering from the states. I hoped I would get lucky and at last one would get through. They were small jiffy bags too!

Is it raining where you are?

If so, parcel is in your back garden, having been lobbed over the fence yesterday

I didn’t process the dates at first and wondered why the hell a shipment from London to Preston was going via Illinois…

stupid question but if it is stuck in customs, how do I pay the charges?

You should get a letter saying you have X to pay, either online or at the PO, sometimes an option of paying on delivery is available too. Then it will be released and delivered to you.

stupid question but if it is stuck in customs, how do I pay the charges?

Depends who the carrier is this end.

UPS have taken up to a week to send me an invoice, UKmail sent it same day by email but Parcelforce delivered the item with the bill for customs charges.

September 18, 2017 08:26 UNITED KINGDOM DELIVERED
Yay!

Postroom: We have had no parcels for you.
Boo!!
Feckity **** why do these things never go to plan.