Apple starts shipping devices from retail stores to speed up deliveries

Joining a trend among retailers, Apple is beginning to employ their network of retail stores as distribution centers for shipping products to customers.

Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:

The Cupertino, California-based technology giant has typically shipped devices like iPhones, Macs, iPads, and accessories from warehouses located across a customer’s region or directly from China. Now items that are in stock can be shipped directly to consumers from a network of almost 300 retail stores spread across the U.S. and Canada, according to people familiar with the matter.

The products will be shipped through United Parcel Service Inc. in Canada and FedEx Corp. in the U.S. via ground shipping and may be delivered as early as the day after a customer’s order, Apple told its staff. The program will apply to customers who live within 100 miles from a store, the people said.

Customers won’t be able to choose to have their orders shipped from a store nor will they be aware when it happens. The decision on where to ship an item from is decided by Apple’s operations team, the people said.

The shift in delivery operations ensures that stores that remain shuttered or limited due to COVID-19 restrictions can still operate in a way that assists Apple in selling devices.

MacDailyNews Take: Hopefully, that’ll mean we get our new iPhones as quickly as possible this year!