It's not all bad news....

[kiwigeo]

https://www.theage.com.au/culture/music ... 54sjc.html

[CNCWorksNZ]

I've managed to sell one so far this month ...
Headless Bass on Trademe ...

[peter.coombe]

Yep, people are buying musical instruments. If you are not selling now then you need to improve your marketing. Make the most of it while it lasts. I have sold about a years worth of work since start of the year, plus got a custom guitar order. Two of the mandolin sales went to the USA and had an enquiry for a guitar from Canada yesterday. Aussie $ is low, so has been more interest from north America. Stock is low and I am scrambling to get a couple of new mandolins finished to replenish the stock of instruments for sale. Has been incredible. However, getting cases has been a nightmare. I have a custom made carbon fibre case stuck in Hong Kong, cases I was using have disappeared from Amazon, and supply of cases from China is very slow. One mandolin case arrived from the distributor yesterday (phew, just in time), but it was a long wait. I have also noticed that USA retail outlets are also out of stock on most cases.

[Allen]

I don't want to get any busier. The biggest issue I have is getting them to clients overseas. What use to be 4-5 business days to the USA is now 20+.

[kiwigeo]

I'm thinking courier companies who operate their own freight aircraft would be a better bet than Aussie Post which I assume would use commercial passenger services for most of their international freighting.

I don't want to get any busier. The biggest issue I have is getting them to clients overseas. What use to be 4-5 business days to the USA is now 20+.

[Allen]

The price difference will absolutely astound you Martin. $83 AUD for AustPost. $450 AUD by DHL and even higher by others for the exact same package. I went through the exercise for the last instrument.

[peter.coombe]

Last package I sent to the USA via Aussie Post express took just under 3 weeks. Normally it takes around a week, or if I get lucky a bit less than a week. I used to use DHL but gave up on them because of escalating cost. Guitars are a bigger problem because they are too big for Aussie Post and none of the local couriers do International. But then I do live out in the sticks.

[Lillian]

Part of the increased shipping time you are seeing is that all the couriers and the post office are dealing with a massive increase of packages and fewer people working the system. Our Post Office was the first to report a positive test result in our town back in late March. Mail delivery as been spotty since. In the beginning of all this, mail came at about 11am. Last night it showed up at 5. I've seen three different carriers on our route. It's taking almost twice as long to get a package across country now. I have a package sitting in Tacoma, 5 miles away, since Friday. They said it was going to be delivered yesterday. Now it's pending. Not enough drivers, people to load the trucks. You hear adverts on the radio all the time looking for drivers for all kinds of businesses.
So, the three weeks for delivery to the US isn't unreasonable with everything going on.

[Dave M]

Well I am really pleased to hear you are doing well at selling instruments.

We amateurs are also doing OK. I have produced most of a classical in probably the shortest time ever. Only problem is having to break off to cut grass, chainsaw up small trees felled by the wind etc since we are in spring and everything is growing. Which is of course great.

Dave

[peter.coombe]

Lillian, we have the same problem here, and I am not complaining about the delivery times. It is a fact of life at the moment in these unusual times. Australia Post is overwhelmed with packages and delivery times for express mail are no longer guaranteed. Domestic delivery times are now 2-3 times slower than normal. The last package I sent to the USA took 1 week just to get to Sydney, when normally it would be on the plane off to the USA from Sydney airport the next day. We are in much better shape than you guys in the USA, and for that we (well most of us) are very grateful. We have had around 100x less deaths on a per head basis than you.

[Lillian]

Peter, no one should have to deal with the mess we have going on here. Stupid doesn't begin to describe things. I am very grateful you guys aren't dealing with our numbers, but then again it seems that you to have an adult in charge there. No one that I know of has ever called President Tweety an adult.

When mom was carrying me, my dad had a job offer in Sydney. We didn't go because they wouldn't let my mom fly and she refused to sail. Many times over the years I have wished she had just taken the barf bag and boarded the boat. But such is life and this will pass. Probably like a kidney stone, but it will pass.

[kiwigeo]

DHL knows they can get stuff around quicker in their planes so they're probably price gouging. At least with a DHL plane you wont have Qantas baggage handlers handling your instrument.

The price difference will absolutely astound you Martin. $83 AUD for AustPost. $450 AUD by DHL and even higher by others for the exact same package. I went through the exercise for the last instrument.

[peter.coombe]

President tweety, I like that Lillian. I have called him other names, and I am sure you have too!