What are business days and working days when used for shipping
purposes? (e.g. Ships in 2-5 business days)

As generally used in business, the terms "business days" and "working
days" have the same meaning, and are interchangeable.

Basically, throughout the world of commerce, business days or working
days are non-holiday weekdays (Monday through Friday). Weekends (i.e.
Saturday and Sunday) and national holidays (sometimes called "bank
holidays" or "legal holidays") are not counted. If you're ordering
from abroad, it's wise to be aware that holidays are different in
various countries, and the sender will usually be considering holidays
in his location, rather than yours, in determining whether or not a
day is a business day.

"Each title in our online store has information that shows the number
of days it will most likely take before it gets shipped out, e.g.,
'Title will ship within 1-4 working days' or 'Title will ship within
4-6 working days' (working days are business days)."

World Christian News and Books
http://www.ywam.org/books/issues.htm

"Guaranteed response time: Less than 2 working days (weekends are not
considered 'working' days)."

Whizoo
http://www.whizoo.com/support.php

"All turnaround times listed are in 'business' days. Weekend and
Holidays do not count towards the turnaround time."

Production Transcripts
http://www.productiontranscripts.com/transcription/info/turn/

"UPS 2nd Day Air - Transit Time is 2 'business' days. Weekends and
holidays are not included. For example, if your order is shipped on
Monday, you will receive it on Wednesday. If your order is shipped on
Thursday, you will receive it the following Monday."

Quality Trading
http://www.qualitytrading.com/upsmap.html

It should be noted that, where shipping is concerned, estimated
delivery times may be based upon working days or business days from
the time your order is actually dispatched, NOT from the time you
placed your order. Here are two examples:

"The delivery times listed above are from the time the parcel is
dispatched, not from the time you place your order. So make sure you
count the days from the dispatch date, not from the order date. Also,
'working days' means Monday to Friday only, and doesn't include public
holidays."

Adore Beauty
http://www.adorebeauty.com.au/adorable/helpShipping.asp

"HeritageQuest calculates the time to process your order as the
estimated number of business days from when you place your order to
when it is shipped. In most cases, we will ship your order(s) within
two business days of receiving it....

HeritageQuest calculates your order's time in transit as the estimated
number of business days between the shipment of product and your
receipt of product."

HeritageQuest
http://www.heritagequest.com/html/shipping.html  

Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: "business days" OR "working days" 
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22business+days%22+OR+%22working+days

I hope this helps. If anything is unclear, please request
clarification; I'll be glad to offer further assistance before you
rate my answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

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Request for Answer Clarification by freebert248-ga on 24 Jun 2004 19:00 PDT

What if the package you ordered has already been shipped lets say on a
friday, and it is in the air on friday night and it won't land until
saturday night? Does the plane just stop what it's doing saturday, and
land at the airport nearest to it, or does it keep going until it's
done with that part and then continue on monday?

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Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 24 Jun 2004 19:19 PDT

Planes don't necessarily stop flying on non-business days, of course.
And, in fact, sometimes deliveries may even arrive at their final
destination on a Saturday. The "business day" tradition gives quite a
bit of leeway to the shipper, and since many businesses do indeed
suspend most of their operations on weekends and holidays, it's not an
unreasonable convention.

Thank you for clarifying the answer for me. It was very helpful and
speedy. Best Regards-
Sam

Thank you very much for the five-star rating and the nice tip!

~pinkfreud