Do Amazon.com ship unreleased items early?

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When ordering something unreleased from Amazon.com, do they take shipping into account so that you'll receive it as close to the actual release date as possible? Or do they ship it on the release date?
 
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As far as I know, they wait until the legal release date, you just place an advanced order, which gets you on a waiting list. Shipping time depends on what shipping option you select.
 
mgb_phys said:
For books I have had them before the release date (not for big event releases like Harry Potter)
For DVDs they have shipped them the day before so they arrive on release day.
Like you, I have gotten stuff from Amazon "on time" as if they have calculated ship time and release time and have compensated. Amazon is a pretty great resource, and I have bought culinary equipment, small appliances, photographic equipment, and who knows how many other items from them over the years.
 
My experience is also that they seem to take into account shipping. When I pre-ordered one of the Harry Potter books, I expected it to arrive a few days after the actual release date, but it showed up on the day of the release. I was very surprised they timed it so well, and wondered if they had some special contract with the Postal Service for timing of delivery (it was delivered by regular USPS).
 
The last time I preordered a book Amazon specifically stated on the site that it would be shipped prerelease date in order to get it to me as close to the release as possible. I don't remember what shipping rate I had to pay for that though. I think it showed up the day of or the day after release.
 
Without knowing any specifics, I would think amazon.com is such a large player that it can negotiate extremely favourable deals with various publishing companies.

To be allowed pre-release shipping is quite possibly one of those deals amazon.com would like to have, in order to remain competitive with traditional bookstores.
 
why is it so important to get things on the release date? Does reading a book on the day of it's release make it that much better than having to wait a week or 10 years? I guess so that people can be up to date and join in the local conversation or maybe for bragging rights, "I read/watched/listened to/played it first, so I'm cooler than you". I was just wondering...
 
redargon said:
why is it so important to get things on the release date? Does reading a book on the day of it's release make it that much better than having to wait a week or 10 years? I guess so that people can be up to date and join in the local conversation or maybe for bragging rights, "I read/watched/listened to/played it first, so I'm cooler than you". I was just wondering...

Have you ever said or heard anyone say "I just can't wait"? Anticipating something for a long period of time tends to make people anxious. Personally I tend to read series of books that are already complete or well underway. In the case of a book someone may want to know what happens before anyone could possibly ruin it for them. And yes maybe they want bragging rights. In the case of ordering something from Amazon one might wonder why they would preorder it online and pay shipping if they could have it and sooner by simply walking into a store.
 
Thx for all the replies people :) Seems the conclution is they ship ahead of release. Excellent...
 
Moonbear said:
My experience is also that they seem to take into account shipping. When I pre-ordered one of the Harry Potter books, I expected it to arrive a few days after the actual release date, but it showed up on the day of the release. I was very surprised they timed it so well, and wondered if they had some special contract with the Postal Service for timing of delivery (it was delivered by regular USPS).

I remember reading about the Harry Potter Book 7, which was the hugest pre-order ever, and the most controlled embargoed release ever. Amazon did have the pre-ordered books packaged, sorted, labeled and ready to go by midnight of the release date. I don't know if they were actually on the trucks at midnight, but they did begin moving them out of their many warehouses by the time the twelfth bell rang.

This means there must have been hundreds of people who had their hands on the book before the release. One of them did get a copy to the NYT reviewer who got the scoop. Actually, it is still not known which bookstore the reviewer scored from, but all stores had to sign a very detailed contract regarding who can even touch them, let alone open one.
 
redargon said:
why is it so important to get things on the release date? Does reading a book on the day of it's release make it that much better than having to wait a week or 10 years? I guess so that people can be up to date and join in the local conversation or maybe for bragging rights, "I read/watched/listened to/played it first, so I'm cooler than you". I was just wondering...

For me, it wasn't a matter of getting it on the day it was released, but more that there was a big discount if you ordered in advance (probably because it helped them meet demand and plan inventory better), so I ordered it in advance. I wasn't expecting it to arrive on the day of release, I was expecting it to be shipped that day and arrive several days later (I always choose the cheapest or free shipping method). For me, the discount was worth pre-ordering online and potentially waiting longer to read it rather than going to a store to pick it up.

I suppose if one were still a kid and every other kid in the class was reading it and talking about it the day a book is released, then you'd want it at the same time too, to avoid someone spoiling the story before you got a chance to read it.
 
TSN79 said:
When ordering something unreleased from Amazon.com, do they take shipping into account so that you'll receive it as close to the actual release date as possible? Or do they ship it on the release date?

won't you save a lot of time by asking amazon.com directly instead of like physicsforums?
 
redargon said:
why is it so important to get things on the release date?
Wrong question.

The correct is:
Why is it so important to be able to SELL things at the release date?

Basically, if amazon.com also can deliver at the release date, "release parties" and other types of "release events" won't any longer be as lucrative for their bookstore competitors..
 
arildno said:
Wrong question.

The correct is:
Why is it so important to be able to SELL things at the release date?

Basically, if amazon.com also can deliver at the release date, "release parties" and other types of "release events" won't any longer be as lucrative for their bookstore competitors..

Well so far I don't think Amazon is able to get the authors to show up at your home to personally deliver and sign the books at least. ;-)
 
TheStatutoryApe said:
Well so far I don't think Amazon is able to get the authors to show up at your home to personally deliver and sign the books at least. ;-)

Sure enough. The bookstore will still have a niche amazon.com can't occupy. :smile:
 

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