I completely get what you were trying to do, but it was kind of risky trying to nail down a date that far into the future as things can get hung up in customs coming from Canada.
When I got my first shipment just over 10 years ago, I had them held at the local FedEx office. It was NOT super convenient to do that back then as you had to go to the distribution center only, but at least I didn't have to sit around at home and wait. I just watched my tracking and planned accordingly to pick them up after work. Nowadays, you can select just about any FedEx drop off point to receive and hold packages so that you don't have to be home, but also don't have to wait additional days, or leave one of those signed door tags, etc. Makes it really easy to find a location only a few to several minutes from just about any location in most cities.
I know, it is hindsight and that doesn't help.
Could be worse. I buy a decent amount of stuff online, and I love free shipping, but dang... Amazon's free shipping is about the worst. Items in stock don't ship for a week or longer most of the time, and then take the slowest route. Can't predict at all when things are going to show up. In fact, I received a package from Amazon that I ordered 2 weeks ago via free shipping, and it showed up yesterday.... Yesterday was a Sunday. Sent via USPS. Never knew that USPS delivered on Sunday, at least in small town Iowa where I live (about 180,000 people in our area). I wasn't home. Good thing that I didn't need to sign for anything, but at the same time, the brown box with well known 'Amazon' packing tape just sat on our porch all day, waiting for someone to snag it. Luckily I live in a pretty safe area, but still.
