diff --git a/exporter_benchmark_test.go b/exporter_benchmark_test.go
index 9a26760..2e13627 100644
--- a/exporter_benchmark_test.go
+++ b/exporter_benchmark_test.go
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ func benchmarkUDPListener(times int, b *testing.B) {
 
 		// there are more events than input lines, need bigger buffer
 		events := make(chan event.Events, len(bytesInput)*times*2)
+		udpChan := make(chan []byte, len(bytesInput)*times*2)
 
 		l := listener.StatsDUDPListener{
 			EventHandler:    &event.UnbufferedEventHandler{C: events},
@@ -74,6 +75,7 @@ func benchmarkUDPListener(times int, b *testing.B) {
 			LinesReceived:   linesReceived,
 			SamplesReceived: samplesReceived,
 			TagsReceived:    tagsReceived,
+			UdpPacketQueue:  udpChan,
 		}
 
 		// resume benchmark timer
diff --git a/pkg/listener/listener.go b/pkg/listener/listener.go
index 6c05e28..c3f1520 100644
--- a/pkg/listener/listener.go
+++ b/pkg/listener/listener.go
@@ -66,13 +66,14 @@ func (l *StatsDUDPListener) Listen() {
 			level.Error(l.Logger).Log("error", err)
 			return
 		}
-		l.EnqueueUdpPacket(buf[0:n])
+		// avoid making copies of slices since we need to minimize the time spent here in order not to drop packets
+		l.EnqueueUdpPacket(buf, n)
 	}
 }
 
-func (l *StatsDUDPListener) EnqueueUdpPacket(packet []byte) {
+func (l *StatsDUDPListener) EnqueueUdpPacket(packet []byte, n int) {
 	l.UDPPackets.Inc()
-	packetCopy := make([]byte, len(packet))
+	packetCopy := make([]byte, n)
 	copy(packetCopy, packet)
 	l.UdpPacketQueue <- packetCopy
 }