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Rabbi Yoel Lieberman

Shevat 15, 5783
Question
Hi there, I’m a different jew that was looking online for this question and I need a little bit more detail as I’m feeling confused….part of the original question stated that even if the package will arrive on Sunday it might be a problem as they have to work on Shabbat…but in my case, in our town, I literally have no ideas when they give employees time off, and I also have no idea how many days it takes them to deliver a package from their mail centre to our town postal office….in this way, if I have to take the time that they may be asked work into account, it means I can only order packages to be delivered on Thursday and hope for the best….and this way I could lose a lot of products that I might need but say ‘only delivery Sunday or Monday and so on….what should be done practically in these cases? Websites like Amazon do not let you choose a delivery date for many products….I thought only avoiding Saturday delivery is enough, at least in a foreign town. In my old town I used to know how long it takes the places I order to deliver mail, so I would Specfically only order things on Sunday through mid week, as I knew it takes them 3 days to process the order and then to send it off for shipment, but once it’s out for shipment it’s out of my control….I have no idea how many days or how fast or slow they work. But in this new place, and with this Amazon, they process my order anywhere from 5 hours to many days, depending on the seller, and I have no idea how long anything takes them…not the processing or the sending the package off…what should be done when you don’t know any details? Is it enough to just avoid Saturday delivery? I just can’t know how they will work at all….
Answer
ב"ה Shalom, I basically answered your question in my previous answer. Once you have paid for your delivery before Shabbat and you did not specify you want it delivered on Shabbat, there is no problem. (Shulchan Aruch 247:1) On the other hand , if you specify that you want in it delivered by a certain day and it's inevitable for it to arrive without them working on Shabbat, it is forbidden. However, there are those who are lenient even in these circumstances, if there is great need for the package to arrive at this specific time. (שבות יעקב ח"ב סי' מ"ב, חוות יאיר סי' מ"ו ) All the best
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