You might want to understand how companies like Amazon do their shipping. Lots of big companies either (a) have a UPS/shipper hub right in their warehouse or (b) they have a warehouse at the airport or inventory managed by the shipper (both UPS and FedEx have big programs to do this) at the shipper's regional hub. That cuts a lot of shipping time out of the process and lowers the cost (to the merchant, not necessarily to you). When the shipper can show up with a semi and the stuff is all sorted for the right destination, they just have to off load it deeper into their system. None of this is available or practical for a small or even medium sized company and it is an unfair expectation to expect a small company to have a shipping set up like the world's biggest on line retailer.
UPS generally gets it to where it goes in 5 days but if you've ever lost anything, call UPS and they'll tell you (for ground) that standard time is 7-10 days. If you get it sooner, it's bonus points. I just went though such an instance where I had an item shipped to me on vacation and it proceeded to get the slow treatment and not show up until I'd left where I'd had it shipped. If shipping is down internationally, all bets are off due to customs etc...
As for today's business - that's what I do and I have a business that is involved with selling stuff (semiconductors) in high volume and shipping it internationally for OEM sales (i.e. components) to where it will be manufactured into a larger product. I'm pretty aware of what we all need to do in "today's business" and what "proactive" means. We have to support just in time shipments and all the rest of it. So I'm pretty conversant of what happens and how it works and what time it really takes. In other words, I deal with this stuff daily and have to meet a 97%+ on time percentage.
I get that the communication didn't meet your expectation and, presuming you characterized it fairly, is fair criticism. However, waiting to the last minute to order something before you need it is also pretty much asking for trouble because if something happens there is no time to recover on the part of the merchant (Murphy of Murphy's Law fame will be invited). I sure wouldn't ship something premium shipment on a heavy item like a rack just because I didn't instantly get it out of the door and it was specified to be shipped surface. I would, however, be more than willing to ship it premium in the same circumstances if the buyer wanted to pay for it and to charge you for my premium handling of your shipment ahead of everyone else's. Shipping costs would probably be in excess of $100 for next day saver on a two bike rack (for example).
So, I'm not saying that 1UpUSA is perfect or that they are terrible (although my experience over the years has been excellent), but I am pretty much willing to say that this isn't as one sided as you may like to think it is and it's probably because (as you indicated) that your expectations are a bit misplaced in comparing standard shipment of the world's largest online retailer (who, incidentally, is losing money pretty handily) to that of a small business who must remain profitable or your rack won't be supported in the long term. Anyhow, I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. They are excellent racks. I've got 10's of thousands of miles on mine and it's been great.
J.
