How long does standard shipping to the UK take these days?

Yeah, DHL Express is fast, but is more expensive and has more fees. The main issue with Asendia is twofold. One: it goes FedEx ground to their facility in California before it is sorted and goes out. This creates a delay that wouldn't be there if we were in Cali next to their facility. Sometimes that can add an extra 5-7 days just to get to their facility, which is tough to explain to customers. This is exacerbated by issue two: they don't scan packages when they pick up. They only scan once they are sorted in Cali. This makes it look like the packages are not moving, and just sitting at our warehouse for days before going out, which is not the case. The packages leave same day, but without an origin scan, and with that ground travel delay to Cali, it makes it look like we are being slow to customers, which is just not the case. A replacement is going to need to have origin scans at our facility, to show customers that their package actually left our warehouse when it did. It's also going to have to go through a sorting facility closer to us, or travel to that facility overnight/2 day instead of ground.

The other big piece of all this is duties and fees. Right now we ship DDU, and let the luck of the draw determine if customers get charged duties and taxes. That's what customers have asked for, as not every time are the packages stopped and assessed duties. This can save some money, but is just the luck of the draw, and can add more time to the process because of delays that are caused by the country's customs then having to collect the duties before the package can move. What we are trying to move to is DDP, where we collect duties and taxes at checkout, then we pay them on behalf of the customers automatically. This will eliminate the delays and headache associated with customs stopping packages, then reaching out to the customers to get the duties paid. The drawback is going to be that duties and taxes will be assessed on every shipment, so no more rolling the dice and hoping to not be assessed. However, if we do it right, it will massively speed up the whole process, and get customers their packages faster and with less headache. Moreover, the EU is about to roll out changes soon that will make duties assessments happen more often anyway, so the likelihood that a package will skate through without being assessed is going to drop massively. This is the perfect time for us to switch to DDP, and just handle the whole process for customers.