They held my iPad for THREE DAYS in Alaska before shipping to Indianapolis the night before delivery, then it went to Dallas the same night and arrived in Fort Worth at 9am the next morning. My guess is they are doing the same thing with the iPhone...they will hold it in Anchorage facility for 3 days before it it shipped off to distribution then goes to the local FedEx regional and then to your city or town.
And that's exactly where a huge shipment of iPhones has remained all day.