This Monday (November 1), I ordered a HomePod mini in blue (the afternoon they went on sale). I ordered it through Costco ($95 plus $3 shipping - so I saved $2. Let the good times roll!)
Although Costco initially told me that the order would be delayed, it shipped on Thursday (the 4th) via UPS and arrived today (the 5th).
The shrink-wrapped Apple box was wrapped in a plain cardboard box with Apple bar-codes which was in-turn packed in a Costco shipping carton.
Interestingly, the outer bar-code label says that it was assembled in Vietnam and not China.
Since this will be a gift, I won’t be able to say anything more about it for a few weeks, but I did want to inform everybody that these don’t appear to have any substantial shipping delays. At least not via Costco. 