I just got the email this morning that my flash sale order from 10/20 has shipped. Meanwhile, my Kino Lorber order from last month is still in "received" status and a couple of items have been removed by KL because they are no longer available. I say this not to denigrate KL: I can only imagine the logistical nightmare of managing something like this.

I just want to appreciate how smooth and fast the Criterion experience has been. Even when the website crashed in the first minutes of the sale, it was only down for what, 15 minutes? They're running a pretty tight ship over there, and they've clearly prepared for the volume spike. The excellent customer experience is why I'll always buy direct when I can (i.e. two days of every year).