'Mooners Monday: Time-Life with another Jackie Gleason Show release

Tomorrow, Time Life follows its massive (-ly priced) compilation of The Jackie Gleason Show with a more affordable (bur still expensive) single disc version. One of my inside sources tipped me off as to the contents of the disc, a timely piece of info indeed considering info is scarcer than uranium in Asbury Park. 4 episodes are on this cutdown release, and at $7 and change shipped from (*cough cough* I should get a referral link) a certain major online retailer, I figured it was worth a pre-order.

(Here's an early review that indicates this is disc 4 of the full collection--not exactly a curated selection of episodes here, but it's cool they are making a single disc available.)

I don't have the disc yet, so let me share my recent experience with Amaz--uh, that major online retailer. I made the pre-order last week and was not given an estimated date of arrival, which disappointed me a bit since the street date was tomorrow. Well, on Friday, I received an email announcing that my order now had a ship date, and the estimated time of arrival was...Friday, February 9.

I was annoyed not only because this was 3 days after the release date, but because they went through the trouble of sending me an email and getting my hopes up that the item had SHIPPED, only to let me down with the later date. Fortunately, this saga has a happy ending because today I learned my DVD had shipped and I will get it...tomorrow!

I like being kept in the loop on my frivolous disc purchases, but is all the communication really necessary? Part of me thinks that for free shipping, the company should just tell me, "You'll get it when you get it," and assume I will have a pleasant surprise if I receive it on or before the release date.