I’ll quickly mention that for the majority of our systems, it typically takes us roughly around 7 business days (Mon-Fri) to build up and run a system through our full suite of tests.
Today, I want to focus on the different shipping carrier options when shipping to the 48 contiguous United States, as the shipping options can be confusing. When you choose to hire a specific shipping carrier and method of delivery from the various shipping companies that offer shipping to your specific location, the following information is worth knowing:
Delivery Days
First, it is very important to know that the various shipping companies do not count the weekends or holidays in their delivery methods. So, if you were to choose a 2-day delivery method from the shipping company you hire to ship your system, that is considered a 2-business-day delivery (excluding holidays).
For example, if your system ships on a Thursday, then Friday will be shipping day 1 (Saturday and Sunday are the weekend and not counted), and Monday would be business day 2, so you can expect your system to arrive on Monday, which is the second business day.
If in this scenario Monday or Friday happened to be a holiday, then the shipping company would say that Tuesday would be the expected delivery date (when the shipping starts on a Thursday) via the 2-day delivery method.
The Delivery Day Exception
A colleague heard about a wrinkle in the delivery days outlined above. FedEx may switch deliveries from their “FedEx Ground” delivery, to their “FedEx Home” delivery vans at their discretion when delivering to a residence location. This has only happened one time that we are aware of, so it sounds rather rare. “FedEx Home” service delivers Tuesday through Saturday, rather than Monday through Friday. It is not a guarantee that FedEx will switch their “FedEx Ground” delivery to “FedEx Home”, it is just something that FedEx may choose to do at their own discretion, and is not something that can be requested of a “FedEx Ground” delivery.
Ground Delivery
If you choose to hire a carrier with a method that has “Ground” in the title, the shipping companies won’t hold themselves to those given delivery days, but will instead say that it is more of an estimate of delivery days. They will attempt to make delivery by the noted business days, but they will not hold themselves accountable to specific delivery dates.
Air Delivery
Any shipping method that does not list “Ground” in the title will be air delivery, and in which case the shipping companies will hold themselves responsible to deliver within the listed shipping days – again not counting weekends and holidays.
Overnight / Next Day Delivery
If your system ships on a Friday, then the following Monday would be the Next Business Day, which would be the expected delivery day for your system.
Saturday Delivery
For another roughly ~$20 at least (Prices vary by location) FedEx does provide an option to add Saturday delivery when you choose one of their Air Delivery options. This is not available for “FedEx Ground” deliveries. So that is an option to consider if you are looking to get delivery from a shipping company on a Saturday.
It’s worth noting that this information is how we have seen things work as of today, and is possible the shipping companies can change things at any time.