Canon 40D Amazon Shipping Saga

I have owned a Canon Rebel XTi (400D) for almost a year ... and while it's a darn nice camera, I was looking to upgrade and anxiousely waiting the Canon 40D to be announced. So a few days after the 40D announcement, I placed an order with Amazon on August 26th, 2007. Here's the Email showing a Shipping estimate of September 24th, 2007 - well darn, just have to wait a month. Note that the shipping estimate is when Amazon ships it - then takes XX days to get here after that depending on option selected.

August 30th Update: So then I read in this Fred Miranda forum thread that some people have updated their shipping info (but not changed anything), and BAMM, the shipping date moves up a month. So I start fiddling with my order. I go into Shipping Speed, leave it as Super Saver (changing nothing), hit confirm ... and the shipping estimate changes to September 4th - sweet! So then I change it to Standard shipping - now the shipping estimate is August 31st - sweeter still! I decide what the heck, I'm spending $1,500 on Canon 40D and 28-135 lens, lets go for one-day shipping - now the shipping estimate is August 30th - SUPER SWEET ... that's today ... and I should have it tomorrow!

August 31th Update: I wake up this morning to an Email saying my order has been delayed and won't ship until September 28th - D'OH! So I call Amazon to ask what happened. Have nice discussion, but basically the same answer - we are out of stock. However, they update the order on their end and shipping date changes to September 4th ... plus (even though I didn't ask for it) they waived the shipping costs - nice!

September 4th Update: I wake up this morning and the Amazon order page now shows the Canon40D as "Shipping Soon" - this is encouraging! However, it continues to show pending throughout the day so in the evening I give 'em a holler ... but don't get any real additional information. In response to an Email query, they "... can confirm that we are currently preparing it for shipment. We still expect to ship it in time for delivery by the date listed in Your Account: September 05, 2007."

September 5th Morning Update: Well dang - the order still shows they are preparing it for shipment, but the Canon40D delivery estimate (even with one day shipping) is now September 10-11th. :-(

September 5th Afternoon Update: Amazon send me an Email at 4:22PM MDT - it's shipped! The order page now says deliver estimate is September 6-11th, but it is UPS Next Day ... so hopefully I'll have it tomorrow - WOOT! ;-)

September 6th Afternoon Update: I reloaded the UPS tracking page just a few times. It left the local faciliy at 6:01AM for home delivery which is usually mid/late morning. But they kept me waiting ... finally showing up at 1:45 as shown below. All-in-all, 10 days to get a hot new product (including the Labor Day weekend) isn't too shabby. Now it's time to go take some pictures! ;-)

UPS delivers Canon40D from Amazon - image from Grass Cam

grass cam



BTW, I've been generally pleased with Amazon's service over the years and still recommend 'em to people .. even though they struggled a bit here. As an IT systems guy, I'm sure that the popularity of the Canon 40D has been a challenge for their shipping algorithms.


Back to more camera stuff and analysis of the Canon 40D versus 400D.


P.S. Ironically, exactly a year after I placed my Amazon order, Canon announced the 50D which is the follow-on to the 40D.


PPS. And two years later, the Canon 7D - read about that Amazon order which was kinda nail-biting! ;-)