Order an iPhone from the Apple Online Store, and you may find that it's being shipped to you directly from the manufacturing plant in China.
My iPhone was picked up by FedEx in Shenzhen, China, followed by a short hop over to Lantau Island, Hong Kong. From there, a long flight to Anchorage, Alaska, another flight to Newark, New Jersey, and then to Wilmington, Massachusetts. Finally, it's a short delivery truck drive to my office in Bedford, Massachusetts.
It's very impressive that through this combination of Apple's order fulfillment capabilities and FedEx's worldwide delivery system, this little box makes it from a factory in China to my hands in only three days (one of which was a Sunday). I think that this is the first order I've ever placed from Apple's web store, but I can't imagine that this is the most cost-effective way for Apple to fulfill all U.S. orders. I imagine that ideally, Apple bulk ships stock from China to warehouses in the United States, and then ships to individual customers from there. Surely direct shipment from China to a U.S. customer is reserved for situations where the U.S. warehouses can't keep up with demand.
