Hi, guys. Just wanted to provide some information for those wondering about how the shipping process works. I work for FedEx Ground as an operations administrator (the person working behind the scenes to fix issues with your packages). Unfortunately, Ground and Express operate differently (will soon be merged as one), but in terms of how you receive your packages are generally the same. I can try to answer as many questions as possible regarding your packages.

I see a lot of questions about how long the shipping takes: there is a process. It all depends on how fast the shipper is able to package your products, generate a label, and schedule a driver to come pick up or drop your boxes at a shipping depot.

According to the shipping details on Steam:

Processed payment - means if their payment system has successfully received your payment or not.

Packaged items - after they’ve received your payment, labourers will package your items all ready to go before a label is generated. The label creation is the most important part as they need to enter and submit your delivery address so a barcode can be generated.

Picked up by courier - once the label has been printed and attached, the shipper can either bulk drop-off packages at a depot where drivers generally go there to pick up if any, or a driver is typically and automatically scheduled to pick up from the shipper’s warehouse. Sometimes the drivers don’t always come pick up same-day as it depends on the driver’s work schedule. But generally either early same-day or early next day.

Tracking - the driver that has come pick up the packages must be scanned by a depot agent and/or by the driver so the tracking number can be received by the system.

The rest now depends on where you live. Express is generally pretty quick as shipping is done by air over long distances and sometimes will make load/check points to be routed. An Express driver for your local area will then deliver it.