I pre-ordered a Pixel XL from Verizon. Seems like Google has a really, really long wait list, and Verizon bloatware can mostly be disabled/turned off. Coming from a Note 7 (I returned my replacement N7 yesterday) that had quite a bit of bloatware, it was fairly easy to disable a lot of the useless things and maximize battery life and operating performance.
Should anything be wrong with the phone, for whatever reason, it's also convenient to know that I can just walk in to a Verizon store (and wait an hour or two) and resolve my issue. I guess it's a peace of mind thing for myself after going through the Note 7 thing.