Update: Item arrives a wee bit early

As an update to the last post, my package arrived a bit before the previously scheduled September 11th. It arrived at its intended destination on August 28th. It then took 24 hours and 18 minutes to actually make it to me.

Amazon shipping estimates amuse me

As usual, the original shipping estimate on some items I bought yesterday were a bit absurd. First of all, the items are clearly stored locally… more on that later. Even with free shipping/low priority, the odds of delivery during their window seemed slim. The original estimate was Sept 5-11th. OK, the 4th is a possibility, but anything after that seems very, very unlikely. (I know they are just trying to cover themselves, but I can only recall one time in many purchases that something didn’t arrive before the original window started.) I got the shipping notification this morning. While the USPS site doesn’t show the current location, Bloglines does*. It’s coming from Federal Way. Amazon is currently estimating delivery on September 11th. In Bothell. Uh-huh. It makes total sense that it would take 17 days to travel 40 miles. (Maybe someone is crawling with it.)

So, about that stored locally thing. While browsing the site on Friday before work, I stated noticing something I hadn’t seen before. I’m used to their “Want it delivered on X day?” then the requisite shipping options and deadline for that. Well, for the first time I say “Want this delivered Today?” Holy moly. I guess it makes sense, what with headquarters and all… but still. Apparently it is currently available for select items in New York City, Philadelphia, and Seattle. Even though it is absurdly expensive (flat fee for package plus a per item charge… would have been about $25 for my three items if I’m doing the math right) and I’m pretty darn sure I’d never use it, somehow it’s comforting to know it exists. You know, for when I have that DVD emergency in the future…

*It’s kind of creepy how frequently they list more than is normally available. I’ve seen my home address show up and similar items that don’t show up on the tracking site itself.

Zipping

Somehow I don’t think the neighborhood park ziplines are going to be quite as exciting for me any more now that I’ve gone Ziptreking.

More photos of the whole group here.