My first order with S & B last summer went very well. I got the package within 5 days (USPS no-tracking).
It went so well, that I placed another order with them at the end of February. A few weeks later, I got an email from them. The package was returned to them for "No such address". After confirming my address with them via email, a second attempt was made and it was returned to them again for the same reason after another two weeks. As a result, the order was cancelled and they refunded me.
I made a call to Canada Post, and actually got to speak with a human (yay!). With the package being sent with no tracking number, Canada Post could not tell me much about the package in question. However, the customer service lady told me that at least one of the USPS bar codes on a package would have my postal code information embedded to it. And that is what the sorting facilities would scan for sorting purposes. If the bar code was smudged or could not be read by a scanner at any point during transit, the package would be returned to sender as undeliverable.
Rather than looking for the destination address on the mailing label, I guess they only rely on the scanner for sorting with no other measures. They use robots to hold the scanner, too?
I kind of felt bad for S & b, as they had to eat the costs of the two failed delivery attempts. I decided to give it one more try, using my address at work as the delivery address. Prior to placing the order, I worked it out via email with S & B, since the package will be sent to an address that is not my credit card's billing address. I added a capo that I would like to have but not easy to find locally to my order to sweeten it up a bit. Got the package in about 10 business days.
I only order strings from the US that are hard to find locally and I wouldn't mind ordering from S & B again. They are great to deal with and they offer free Canadian shipping for orders worth over US$35.
I've gone into a music store to buy strings and walked out with a guitar before.
That happened to me once many years ago, before I got married. During lunch break, I walked into a store, expecting to buy a pack of strings. I walked out with Strat, 2 packs of strings and a free copy of Guitar Player magazine. I still have that Strat and it still sounds great after more than 20 years.