Going way off topic here, but:
AB, your gripe is with Amazon, not the logistics provider. If they have chosen to rely on a supply chain where they do not hold the stock, but rely on a third party product supplier to deliver into amazon's DC once your order is placed, that is putting a major risk element in the chain. Presumably though, the IT systems have identified the delay and at least provided some updating info to your friend.
Generally, I would suggest that people look to the example of the Swiss Railway system as a good example as to how to deal with disruption. Some Swiss may disagree, because there is some disquiet currently over falling punctuality standards, but the railway seems to have a detailed contingency planning process in place, where every possible form of disruption has been considered for any particular length of track, and a contingency plan written up. When the disruption occurs, the plan gets implemented very quickly, and is communicated through the web-site, SMS, etc. The plans are designed to not only maintain at least a point to point service of some sort between affected stations, but also to quickly minimise knock-on disruption to the rest of the network.