Signed, sealed, delivered - astonishing

This really is astonishing.

Let me tell it to you.

I buy Clark's shoes. I like them for a number of reasons - they're comfortable, well made, last a long time, and virtually none of them are made in China. The local Macy's has a small selection of them, but when I went in over the weekend to buy some shoes, they didn't have anything I wanted in my size. So I got to thinking about it and decided to see if I could find some online - I mean, I know what size in Clark's I take, and they should fit wherever I buy them; it's not like taking a gamble on a brand I don't know. I didn't find them at Macy's online store, but a bit of Googling brought me to a online retailer called Zappos.com. They sell a lot of stuff besides shoes, but they have a full range of Clark's. And they offer paid return shipping in case anything goes wrong.

So, I browsed the selection - way more than Macy's ever had - and picked out a couple. The shipping options included free shipping if I wanted to wait a week. I could, so that's the option I chose.

I placed my order Tuesday afternoon (the receipt is time-stamped 1:06 PDT, though Zappos.com is in Kentucky, according to the box, and their phone number is 702, which is Nevada. I don't understand things like that.) Anyway, yesterday evening at 11:46 PDT they sent me an email that reads:

Good news! Although you originally ordered Standard (4 to 5 business days) shipping and handling, we have given your order special priority processing in our warehouse and are upgrading the shipping and delivery time frame for your order. Your order will ship out today and be given a special priority shipping status so that you can receive your order even faster than we originally promised! Please note that this is being done at no additional cost to you. It is simply our way of saying thank you for being our customer.

The shoes were delivered here today at 1:26 per the UPS time-stamp.

In other words, less than 24 hours after I ordered the shoes I have them in my hands for no shipping charges. They fit and look good.

Zappos.com's slogan is 'Powered by Service'.

I should say.