If i've learned anything in having Verizon for over 15 years now and bought in store and online and and also pre ordered several phones is 1. The customer service reps don't know anything regarding dates and process, calling them and posting about it only instills confusion and conflicting info/speculation and 2. Store reps know even less. I stay away from the stores like the plague. Not once did my prior phones ship on the release date....it was always before but this is not a forward looking promise. However the website said ships 'BY' the 11th so most likely it will SHIP before hand. That doesn't mean you'll get it before the 11th. Typically Verizon wants you to have the phone on its release date. They'll go so far as to have instructions with shipment that say 'Hold for delivery on 11th'. I've seen phones make it to my local sort facility 3 days before release only to have them sit there until release date due to these instructions. I've also had them show up 2 days early (S4 last year) because either hold instructions were not made or someone ignored it. The process of delivering millions of phones on the same day is never going to be perfect. I think some will get lucky on thurs but most will get the phone fri. There are always stragglers for whatever reason that will get it late but that is not how the process is intended to pan out but then again Verizon will only promise shipment BY the intended release date as a general measure of expectation setting. In short those being told next week are having expectations set so they aren't disappointed. Those who are saying before the 11th are typically speaking from experience of having phones show up early beforehand but it is not rule of thumb.
Those continuously shooting down statements of shipment before the 11th as rumor and saying phones will ship on 11th and later only, based on my personal experience only, don't know what they are talking about and is not how the last several high profile phone releases with Verizon have gone. But don't take that to mean you'll get it early either.
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