We don't carry stock of non-Paizo products (for the most part), so we have to order from our distributor, wait for it to come in, then ship it out to you. In addition, this is the busiest time of the year for us, and we try our best to indicate estimated shipping times in product descriptions to give you the necessary information that you need when placing your order.
In addition to what Liz mention, I try to remember we're looking at burst versus sustained.
As a subscription company, Paizo has huge bursts of volume for roughly one week a month, when the subscription orders go out. That's this week, by the way.
Most other e-tailers don't have burst volume. They can hire staff for their usual volume and those workers work at normal capacity all month long. Paizo would have to double or triple their warehouse staff to manage same-day shipping like others, and then those bodies would be laid off for the next 28 or so days because the burst was over.
Know how companies he to hire extra staff every December? That's Paizo, once a month, every month.
Frankly I'm okay to wait. But then... I'm a subscriber, so I usually WANT to wait, for my one-off orders to go in with my subs.
You're not wrong, but there's the reasons.
Shipping is one of my only grumbles in buying stuff here. I'm used to paying international charges, so the cost doesnt bug me (and I pretty regularly receive subsidised shipments as well) but the lack of choice is something that irritates me from time to time.
I dont mind the time taken packing the order (and it's always very well done), however the fastest USPS service to Australia is pretty terrible compared to DHL (like nearly a week difference if I get it from Noble Knight Games plus DHL is usually cheaper and comes with tracking in that specific instance too).
I'm hoping some of the other freight companies can eventually get their toe in the door here.
Chief Technical Officer
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The problem is that shippers want *all* of your business, so any discounts they might offer are based on volume. Which means if you pick multiple shippers, your volume gets split, so you get lower discounts for *all* your shipping methods, and everybody loses. (It's a lot like publishing too many campaign settings.)
Yeah, I understand that argument and I'm not really saying it "should" be different, so much as it's annoying. Especially in my case, where cost isnt the issue but speed is. (I wouldnt mind paying more for DHL's superior service, for example).