reading transit time threads from 2024 and half of it aged badly
Posting this as a discussion rather than a claim: reading transit time threads from 2024 and half of it aged badly. A quoted lead time is a commitment you can evaluate. Measuring quoted against actual across several orders tells you more about an operation than the raw speed does. Median transit is the useful…
Split one order across two months on purpose to compare summer and winter. Four days apart, same carrier, same route.
The regional stock question, and why it is the first thing I ask now.
If a supplier holds the line you want in a warehouse in your own region, your order is a domestic shipment. No international leg, no clearance, a shorter cold exposure and a lead time in days rather than weeks. If they do not, it is an international shipment however it is described at checkout.
So the question is not "how fast do you ship" but "which lines do you hold in regional stock, and is the one I want among them". It is one email, the answer is usually a list, and it changes what to order and when — especially in summer.
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a quoted lead time you can hold them to is worth more than a fast one you cannot
two identical orders a week apart is the cheapest experiment available
Same lane in a different season for comparison?