It's all about the buckage.
Who can make the most of it, and screw the end-customer as much as you can, because the fat cats at the top are not going to take a hit on their profits.
Case in point:
My model was "Origin Scanned" in in Maspeth, NY, on Monday, December 10, 2012 at 7:01 PM.
It was placed on the truck for delivery on Wednesday, December 12, at 8:25 A.M. for a transit time of 1 Day, 13 Hours, 24 Minutes.
The UPS website had it originally listed to be delivered by close of business on Wednesday, December 12. It has been on the truck, marked "out for delivery" for a grand total of 2 Days, 7 Hours, 35 Minutes. Almost TWICE as long as it took to get from New York, to the distribution center in Swainsboro, Georgia, some 36 miles away.
I called UPS, and was told "It was sent to an incorrect distribution facility, and that error has been corrected. It is now at the Pleasantdale, Ga distribution center, awaiting delivery to you. Mind you, it is still marked as "out for delivery" on their tracking website. No mention of a re-route to another facility. UPS merely changed the projected delivery date on Wednesday, on Thursday, and on Friday.
Here's the problem: Swainsboro is 35 miles away. Pleasantdale is just outside Doraville, Ga, which is 149 miles away.
The UPS rep did not know that Pleasantdale is over 110 miles further away from me than Swainsboro. I don't live in the largest city in Georgia, but that's totally ridiculous, to send a package to a distribution center that is over 100 miles farther away! What are they thinking?
The projected date of delivery is now December 18.
That just happens to be the exact day I needed it in hand. I now won't have any time to do anything to it, if there is anything that needs to be done with it. I can't paint it, I can't use it, and I feel like I have wasted the money I spent on it, because it is now a completely useless thing to me. I ordered when I did, and from whom I did, because it was clear that my order would be delivered on time, and before I needed it.
Unless or until Shapeways gives the people who give them money another shipping option, they won't get my business any longer.
I'm voting with my wallet. Shapeways won't get any more money from me. I don't care how good their stuff is. It's my money, and I choose where I spend it.