Thank you, FedEx!

I received my 4-layer printed circuit boards from JLCPCB today as scheduled. I put one on my bench and ran some basic checks with an ohmmeter, checking to make sure none of the power buses were shorted to ground or each other, and that they connect to the most remote devices on the board. They look great and I didn't find any electrical issues.

The solder stencil came in the same box, enclosed in a separate plastic sleeve which protects it from damage. It, too, looks great, and I very much like the protective sleeve.

I also got the notice of refund from PayPal for the scratched board: $12.66. Thank you, JLCPCB. I'm going to add them to my list of preferred vendors.

Finally, thank you DHL for delivering on schedule, even though it's a week before Christmas and I'm sure you're dealing with higher than normal volumes.

Wait... DHL? What about FedEx?

Oh, yeah. FedEx.

When I ordered my parts from Digi-Key I had the option of selecting from FedEx Ground, UPS Ground, or USPS Priority Mail, all for $8.99. FedEx estimated 3-day delivery, UPS 6-day delivery, and USPS 3-ish days but no promises. I didn't want to wait 6 days for UPS and I've had trouble with Priority Mail packages arriving days later than expected. So I went with FedEx Ground.

I'd read that Amazon has stopped allowing 3rd-party vendors to ship their products via FedEx Ground because they weren't delivering as promised, or so Amazon says. Of course, Amazon now has their own package delivery system and thus have incentive to take business away from the other delivery companies, so maybe the rumored problems with FedEx Ground are exaggerated. Sure enough, when the tracking first came up it promised delivery Friday.

This evening, though, I got an alert that the delivery date had been changed to Monday. Gee, thanks. There go my plans for the weekend!

Except not really. I have a regularly-scheduled activity Saturday morning, and Saturday evening I'm going to see The Nutcracker with friends. So Saturday was already spoken for. I'm off work all next week so I'll just shift some of the many things I want to do up a day or two.