Before moving to this homestead I knew Amazon and Wal-Mart shipping times would increase from the 2 - 3 days I was used to. As long as I could get Wal-Mart and Amazon shipping, even with increased waits, all would be good. Indeed, that is the way it has turned out to be -- except if there is the slightest problem with an order. I use Instacart for groceries but there is no delivery this far out.
Any problem involving returns, defective items etc means a large and disproportionate cost in TIME for me. An item I needed with a week or so can take well over a month to be resolved. Anything shipped via USPS or UPS needing to be returned is the worst because both involve driving miles (6 and 40 respectively) to drop off returns. Between here and the main highway can often be a hazardous trip on the back roads ! Since I don't have a 'smart' phone I can't get digital return labels the driver can scan. That leaves out pickups.
The time penalty is increased substantially when dealing with Amazon's 3rd-Party sellers. Several times I gave up on returning relatively inexpensive items due to the hassle and just tossed the products aside or donated them.
Any product you totally, absolutely have to have on or before a certain date -- order well in advance. Even then any defective item will still probably blow your timeline out by days, if not weeks. Querying sellers on Amazon or asking questions on other sites take time but many times asking a few questions helps avoid mistakes in ordering products.
But STILL -- being able to move so far out and do reasonably well depending on Capitalism to get stuff delivered is is a Godsend and allows many more of us to consider homesteading. That part is totally awesome.
