if it was ground shipping, coast to coast, in five days that is great!, but in this case, it appears usps flew it into Cali.
Taking a couple days, even a few days, to prepare the order and then finally ship after a couple or even a few days (weekends/holidays not counted) for an IN STOCK item is unacceptable to me. Orders should be shipped the same day if orders are in before a certain time (like the time fedex or ups guy comes to business to pick up packages) and that time should be reflected on their website. If the order is placed after that time, then the next business day when the UPS/FedEX guy comes to pick up packages, it should be shipped then.
I don't believe that taking longer than that to ship is acceptable by any means.
I mean think about it...once the money leaves your account and into there's, the item is yours. Maybe if it was the other way around and payment was NOT received until the package has been picked up by USPS/FedEX/USPS (verifiable by tracking info), then just maybe these retailers would not wait forever to get around to shipping your item. I encounter this problem ALOT when ordering from eBay especially. It has been nearly 3 weeks sometimes before a seller even ships the item.
In respect to eBay, even if I get my item (which sometimes I never do receive), I will NEVER leave a 5 star rating for them if I have noticed the package has NOT shipped within 36 hours. Whether or not I receive the item in the allotted time the listing said I would. There's no excuse for waiting so long to actually SHIP the item, and if there is, the seller should be notifying the customer QUICKLY so if they are on a time sensitive project, they can have the option to cancel the order and purchase somewhere else. This, in my opinion, pertains to not just Adafruit and eBay, but to any business that ships ANYTHING out of their office.
I have a very small business, I ship maybe 4 or 5 items a year (yes, its very very small business, gives me something to do), and I NEVER wait so long to ship an item if it is in stock. One day max, unless it is not in stock or the customer requires a bit of 'modification' to it before shipping to him/her.
Thank you for your post. This will make me think twice about purchasing something from said company. If I have to spend a couple dollars more buying from another company but KNOWING that I will receive the item a day or two or even 3 weeks earlier do to the fact the new company does NOT stall on shipping it out....I will do so.
EDIT: I just re-read what I wrote, it sounded pretty harsh. But in all seriousness, a reputable company like Adafruit taking longer then a day to ship your item, to me, is just unacceptable.
EDIT AGAIN:
Order is confirmed on Tuesday Jan 12, 12:35 PM
..and theeeen
sometime later, a label was magically created already ![Face Palm :palm:](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/facepalm.gif)
January 13, 2016 , 6:53 pm Shipping Label Created
and instantly the next day
January 14, 2016 , 11:21 pm Accepted at USPS Origin Sort Facility NEW YORK, NY 10013
It sounds to me like the USPS mail carrier picked up your package from them the following day you ordered it, if that is what they did. Let's Say that the mail carrier's normal delivery/pick-up time is at 10:00 AM each day, you placed order after that at 12:35 PM.....so it would not have been picked up until the next day at 10:00 AM when the mail carrier comes around again (of course, Adafruit could have delivered the package in person that same day on Tuesday to the post office)....then the Mail carrier would not have gotten it to the Post Office until his route was finished, which means the package would not have been scanned into the post office until the evening of the 13th, (some mail carriers actually scan it in the second the pick it up and get back into their truck though).
HOWEVER - in this case, it looks like a shipping label was NOT even created until the next day, over 30 hours later when your order was purchased by you online. That shipping label should have been created within a couple hours of your order being placed, notifying USPS that there was a package ready to be picked up (or ready to be delivered by an Adafruit employee to the nearest USPS office). If Adafruit online has one person (doubtful, considering how big their online store is, I'm sure their sells volume is pretty high for a business like theirs), then maybe they should hire a single person (or more) to handle the shipping for them so everything is processed and out the door in a timely manner.
Just my 2 cents, they dropped the ball. Stuff like this lowers their potential sells volume, among other retailers who DO ship the same day.
/rant off