diff --git a/src/main/java/com/timgroup/statsd/NonBlockingStatsDClient.java b/src/main/java/com/timgroup/statsd/NonBlockingStatsDClient.java
index ed8311d..33a44b5 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/timgroup/statsd/NonBlockingStatsDClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/timgroup/statsd/NonBlockingStatsDClient.java
@@ -5,10 +5,7 @@
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
 import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 import java.util.Locale;
-import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
-import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
-import java.util.concurrent.ThreadFactory;
-import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.concurrent.*;
 import java.text.NumberFormat;
 
 /**
@@ -35,9 +32,10 @@
  * on any StatsD clients.</p>
  * 
  * @author Tom Denley
- *
+ * @author Mauro Franceschini
  */
 public final class NonBlockingStatsDClient extends ConvenienceMethodProvidingStatsDClient {
+    private static final int STATS_QUEUE_MAX_SIZE = 64 * 1024;
 
     private static final Charset STATS_D_ENCODING = Charset.forName("UTF-8");
 
@@ -48,6 +46,9 @@ public final class NonBlockingStatsDClient extends ConvenienceMethodProvidingSta
     private final String prefix;
     private final DatagramSocket clientSocket;
     private final StatsDClientErrorHandler handler;
+    private final BlockingQueue<String> statsQueue;
+    private Future<?> executorFuture;
+    private boolean stopping = false;
 
     private final ExecutorService executor = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor(new ThreadFactory() {
         final ThreadFactory delegate = Executors.defaultThreadFactory();
@@ -107,6 +108,7 @@ public NonBlockingStatsDClient(String prefix, String hostname, int port) throws
     public NonBlockingStatsDClient(String prefix, String hostname, int port, StatsDClientErrorHandler errorHandler) throws StatsDClientException {
         this.prefix = (prefix == null || prefix.trim().isEmpty()) ? "" : (prefix.trim() + ".");
         this.handler = errorHandler;
+        this.statsQueue = new ArrayBlockingQueue<String>(STATS_QUEUE_MAX_SIZE);
         
         try {
             this.clientSocket = new DatagramSocket();
@@ -114,6 +116,19 @@ public NonBlockingStatsDClient(String prefix, String hostname, int port, StatsDC
         } catch (Exception e) {
             throw new StatsDClientException("Failed to start StatsD client", e);
         }
+
+        this.executorFuture = executor.submit(new Runnable() {
+            @Override
+            public void run() {
+                while (!stopping) {
+                    try {
+                        blockingSend(statsQueue.take());
+                    } catch (InterruptedException ex) {
+                        handler.handle(ex);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        });
     }
 
     /**
@@ -123,6 +138,8 @@ public NonBlockingStatsDClient(String prefix, String hostname, int port, StatsDC
     @Override
     public void stop() {
         try {
+            stopping = true;
+            executorFuture.cancel(true);
             executor.shutdown();
             executor.awaitTermination(30, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
         }
@@ -151,7 +168,7 @@ public void stop() {
      */
     @Override
     public void count(String aspect, long delta, double sampleRate) {
-        send(messageFor(aspect, Long.toString(delta), "c", sampleRate));
+        send(messageFor(aspect, delta, "c", sampleRate));
     }
 
     /**
@@ -169,7 +186,6 @@ public void recordGaugeValue(String aspect, long value) {
         recordGaugeCommon(aspect, Long.toString(value), value < 0, false);
     }
 
-    @Override
     public void recordGaugeValue(String aspect, double value) {
         recordGaugeCommon(aspect, stringValueOf(value), value < 0, false);
     }
@@ -179,7 +195,6 @@ public void recordGaugeDelta(String aspect, long value) {
         recordGaugeCommon(aspect, Long.toString(value), value < 0, true);
     }
 
-    @Override
     public void recordGaugeDelta(String aspect, double value) {
         recordGaugeCommon(aspect, stringValueOf(value), value < 0, true);
     }
@@ -221,25 +236,21 @@ public void recordSetEvent(String aspect, String eventName) {
      */
     @Override
     public void recordExecutionTime(String aspect, long timeInMs, double sampleRate) {
-        send(messageFor(aspect, Long.toString(timeInMs), "ms", sampleRate));
+        send(messageFor(aspect, timeInMs, "ms", sampleRate));
     }
 
-    private String messageFor(String aspect, String value, String type) {
+    private String messageFor(String aspect, Object value, String type) {
         return messageFor(aspect, value, type, 1.0);
     }
 
-    private String messageFor(String aspect, String value, String type, double sampleRate) {
+    private String messageFor(String aspect, Object value, String type, double sampleRate) {
         final String messageFormat = (sampleRate == 1.0) ? "%s%s:%s|%s" : "%s%s:%s|%s@%f";
-        return String.format((Locale)null, messageFormat, prefix, aspect, value, type, sampleRate);
+        return String.format(Locale.US, messageFormat, prefix, aspect, value, type, sampleRate);
     }
 
     private void send(final String message) {
         try {
-            executor.execute(new Runnable() {
-                @Override public void run() {
-                    blockingSend(message);
-                }
-            });
+            statsQueue.add(message);
         }
         catch (Exception e) {
             handler.handle(e);