So, like several others on here, I dabble. I decided to pull the trigger on the Silhouette Cameo 4 Pro today. I found a site (SwingDesign) that had bundles available and found one I liked. The total came to $559. I went to checkout online and there were 2 options for shipping. Standard shipping was free, and Expedited shipping was $180. (Wow). So, of course, I chose standard. I was not in a hurry and figured (with those numbers) that it would be a week or two before saw my order.
Pop ahead a mere 2 hours. I receive an email from UPS telling me that my delivery will arrive tomorrow. Tomorrow! So the big question is, what does paying the extra $180 get you? Does it arrive wrapped in gold leaf? Will it be accompanied by a serenade from Milla Jovovich? Will it actually arrive BEFORE I ordered it? Inquiring minds want to know.
Haha that’s funny. Good thing you chose the standard shipping. I see that a lot on Amazon where I can literally save one day by paying for delivery. I never do and usually get whatever I ordered a day earlier than expected anyway.
Years ago I worked for a company that sold medical supplies and was based in upstate NY. The hospitals in NYC would always order ground, because 99% of the time it was there the next day. Fast forward to a frantic phone call from a nurse who didn’t have the supplies she needed for a surgery. She insisted they always ordered overnight. Made me wonder if the supply department was saving money on their budget by not fulfilling that part of the request and counting on nobody noticing.
The nurse was ok since I was able to tell her she did have the supplies, just under a different surgeon’s name.
thing is, UPS ground is not guaranteed in the general time frame they say it should get there. if you want the overnight guarantee, you need to pay for it. it’s just a guideline for how long it generally takes.
When you buy ground shipping, the package travels on a series of trucks and vans from the origin to your address. If you live 100 miles from the shipper, it’ll probably reach you the next day. If you’re on the other side of the country, it can take 4-5 days to drive it that far. If there are delays along the way, there are no repercussions, you get it when you get it.
When you buy expedited shipping, you get a guaranteed delivery date, utilizing air cargo if necessary to meet that guarantee, backed by a refund on the postage if the delivery date is missed. You can even pay for delivery by a specific time, e.g. by 12PM or by 10AM the next day.
Cheap, fast shipping is a benefit of “shopping local”. But you can get fast shipping from almost anywhere if you pay for it. FedEx Express has delivered me a laptop from China and a tool from the UK in one business day. USPS Parcel Select, a ground service, once took 35 days to deliver a package between two US addresses.
For what it’s worth, they attempted a delivery today. My elderly mother was in the bathroom at the time, so my 75 lb german shepherd answered the door. The driver didn’t wait long enough to deliver, so now I get a “second attempt” tomorrow. At least my daughter will be here then to corral the pupster.