I’ve written here before about my experiences with Amazon.com. I remember when I first ordered from them, I could expect products to arrive, with regular shipping, in 3 or 4 weeks. It wasn’t immediate gratification. And since Indigo (nee Chapters) came on the scene, I’ve shifted most of my online purchases to them because, although their website is much inferior, they do ship quickly, and I often get books in 2 or 3 days.

Well, earlier this week I placed an order at Amazon.com for some books that I couldn’t find elsewhere. I placed the order on Sunday morning and the books arrived today, 5 days later. This was with the medium shipping charge — not “slow boat”, but not “super express” either.

That’s close enough to instant gratification for me that I might consider moving back to Amazon.com for my book orders, especially given Indigo’s attitude towards censorship.

One caveat: my sister-in-law to be Jodi placed an order at Amazon.com for text books that she needed in a hurry, and sprang for the super express shipping. She didn’t get her textbooks in time. So they’re not batting 100%.

By the way, the books I ordered were Understanding Children and Diagnostic Tests for Men (both by Richard Saul Wurman, famous for TED and his series of travel guides; the later I got simply for interest, not due to medical need), as well as Traditional Boatbuilding Made Easy : A 12 Foot Skiff for Oar and Sail because, well, sometimes you have to build a boat.