/BEGIN RANT: I attempted to order one of these online at OfficeDepot.com; it was an extremely frustrating experience. While I could get one shipped to my home in Colorado, I could not get one sent to SC where the person to whom I am giving it lives. Nor could I order and pay for it through the online site and have another family member pick it up for me at a local store there, even though the store had some in stock (I spoke to the manager to check supply, who also informed me company policy is that the stores can not accept credit card orders over the phone). I had to cancel the online order and have the family member pick it up and pay for it, which I was a bit embarrased about (or my only other alternative was to have it delivered to me in CO and then overnight it to SC after it arrived, which would have been an expensive proposition). Apparently the OD.com supply chain is still operating in the "dark ages" relatively: (a) if you order online for delivery, it will only process if the one warehouse near the delivery point has it in stock; (b) if you order online for store pick-up, apparently looking at the same warehouse inventory, it will not process if that warehouse is out of stock, even if the stores are overflowing with an item or if another warehouse has it in stock (I understand that, upon ordering online, they then take the stock out of the warehouse and deliver it to the store). Based on what I was told, stores in that area in SC and warehouse in other areas (Maine and San Diego) had the item in stock, but there was no way that I could use their online system to pay for one and get it to or picked up in SC.

In some pick-up scenarios, I was given the option of placing the item on backorder. I did, but when I called Customer Service to check on time to clear, I was told that backorders on average usually clear in about 7 business days, but Customer Service could not or would not be specific about when this specific item would clear. My impression was that the "7 business days" timeframe is what they would tell anyone about any item which was backordered.

Given recent online ordering experience with Sears, Circuit City, and Sams, as well as other orders with OD, Office Depot's system seems to be lagging behind. I'll end this rant with a positive note: in the process I spoke with managers at several stores; all were friendly and helpful, a few extremely so. So whatever the problems are with their online operation, I think they are outside of the control of the store managers.

If I had known how much of a hassle dealing with OD.com was going to be, I probably would have paid the higher price and ordered from Amazon or another Yahoo seller.