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Apple's "Fast, free shipping"

A

ARK

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 20, 2008
539
105
Indianapolis, IN
So just how fast will the "Fast, free shipping" be? Anyone have any experience on how Apple ships new product?
 
I asked that of Apple, they said the have many in the state so i am hoping by first of the week.
 
I'm thinking Monday or Tuesday will be the day if orders are processed on Friday. Later orders might not be fulfilled until Saturday.

I'm still reserving some hope that we get a nice surprise with a Saturday delivery. I got my iPhone 4 delivered the day before the release date, so Apple kind of spoiled me there. I would love nothing more than to put in 20 hours of use on the ipad this weekend :D.
 
I ordered a refurb iPad last Wednesday. It shipped from Shenzhen, China and I got it on Monday.
 
Apple's free shipping is pretty good. They don't use bogus services like UPS Mail Innovations and the FedEx counterpart that dump off at the P.O. for last mile delivery. It's always FedEx or UPS. They also have lots of warehouses across the county so usually if it's in stock not more than 1-3 days. If it ships from China, usually 2-4 days depending on when it gets on the plane.

IF Apple has them in the U.S. then Sat delivery is possible as that is a regular delivery day for FedEx Ground. If you live in the same ground delivery zone as an Apple warehouse then that is next day delivery.
 
I talked to an Apple sales person via chat asking about the "free, fast shipping" but they gave the impression it's only standard shipping. I would likely order from Apple if I knew it would ship next day, otherwise I might try to find it locally.
 
If it won't arrive until next week, it's not fast enough shipping for me, so I'll be waiting in a line.
 
dgoldak said:
I talked to an Apple sales person via chat asking about the "free, fast shipping" but they gave the impression it's only standard shipping. I would likely order from Apple if I knew it would ship next day, otherwise I might try to find it locally.
Click to expand...

It's ground delivery so like other people have said, it all depends on your distance from an Apple warehouse. If you have engraving done then it has to get here from China.
 
Apple's shipping time has been very fast for me in the past, and quite often they are shipping stuff direct from China (even for some refurbished stuff) and still arrived in just a few days. I wouldn't bother paying more for upgraded shipping unless you want some kind of guarantee of arrival time.
 
you would think that one or two would have fallen of the truck by now right? They have to be on their way to apple stores by now...?
 
AMDGAMER said:
Is the overnight option gonna deliver Saturday?
Click to expand...

I don't know about Apple, everything I've ordered from them has been a preorder, and I've gotten it the day it was released, or the day before it was released. I can tell you that I have Amazon Prime, and I buy WAY too much stuff from them. If I pay $4 for next day delivery on Friday afternoon, it will arrive Saturday. If I pay $4 for next day delivery on Friday night, it will arrive on Tuesday. I thought UPS/FedEx just didn't operate on Sunday, but apparently there's some weird craziness on Mondays as well.

I can almost guarantee that you WILL NOT get your iPad on Saturday, even if you pay $20 or something for overnight, unless they open up the online store for iPad 2 sales early in the morning, which is unlikely. It's going to take quite a while to actually process all of those orders. That's why preorders worked so well. They had 2+ weeks to process your order, and to get the correct amount of devices out to each of their warehouses. Sure, they probably used last year's presales to predict how many iPads each state will need this time, but the iPad 2 might be headed for a very different market. You expect them to process your order (along with the tens of thousands of other orders being placed simultaneously), turn around and have it on a UPS/FedEx truck within an hour (6PM), in order for it to go out for delivery a few hours later? I don't think so.

If I had to guess, if you buy right away on Friday, and there are no shortages:
Overnight - Monday
Free- Wednesday/Thursday
 
Online ordering isn't 5pm...its 12:01PST..which is 3:01 AM Friday Eastern...very possible to get a shipment out, but will they?

If amazon stocks them I'll pay the 4 dollars Prime overnight and get it that way. Hate to spend 500 bucks and wait 3-4 days
 
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