This may be true. I drove 4 hours once to south carolina and 4 hours once to Georgia to get both of my phones. once you set up the instore pick up you have 7 days to go get your phone. I did this because the apple store near me 1/2 hour away was not getting any 128s in or they were gone as i was in process of ordering. the georgia store said a lot of people were driving up from miami which is about a 12 hour drive for them.
not sure if this will help but i used the apple app. and istocknow.com i made sure the credit card i wanted use was on my apple store/itunes account. as this saves time as you only need to enter your security number on the back of the card. at the time I had noticed many of the stores inventory posted approximately 1-3am again approximately 1-3 pm and again applroximately 6-8pm. these times are eastern time (florida) I checked istocknow during these times when i saw one I hit my apple store app and choose the store and finished the prompts. when it shows the cases to buy just hit the shoping cart in the upper left corner of the page and finish your purchase.
also the apple lets you put up to 4 stores as your favorites doing this also saves time as you have experienced seconds really does count.
yes the phone is worth it. I am very happy with them. worth the drive. also i canceled my phone that was on backorder since the 12th of september.
good luck and hope this helps.