Although one might expect online orders to be shipped from a warehouse located in the U.S. if the consumer is in North America, chances are it started its journey from Inventec Appliances-Apple's contract manufacturer in Shanghai-and took only four days from the time the order was made online to reach the consumer's door.

"This is lean manufacturing, just-in-time-delivery and supply chain management in action. It's globalization at work, where the production moves to the countries that cost the least" and the products end up at customers' doorsteps in a matter of days, not weeks or months, says Satish Jindel, president of Sewickley, Pa.-based SJ Consulting Group, a transportation and logistics consulting and design business.

The typical route for the iPod that started in Shanghai would likely include a first stop at a local FedEx facility in Shanghai before flying to Anchorage, Alaska, where FedEx operates a 1,200-employee hub that has become a gateway for exported products leaving China for the U.S. From there, the iPod probably transited another FedEx hub before being put on a truck for delivery.

Not only does the Internet offer consumers a convenient way to shop, it's great for tracking orders. "There are a lot of obsessed people out there," remarks a spokeswomen for FedEx Ground. More than 3 million electronic tracking requests for packages are made by FedEx customers every day.