Settle an argument. "As early as possible"

[IncompleteSenten]

In this case referring to going somewhere.

Does "as early as possible" mean -

YABU - as early as you can possibly get up and go. Set your alarm for stupid o'clock, wash, coffee, dress, straight out and off.

YANBU - the earliest convenient time taking into consideration various factors such as avoiding school traffic, not being too tired, the time where you're going opens etc.

I say settle an argument but we're not arguing or anything. It's totally trivial.

Well in the scenario you give OP, I wouldn’t even say “as early as possible” is the best strategy.

if the delivery window is “all day”, they are as likely to miss it whether they are out of the house early or late. They are better off avoiding the rush hour, minimising the time away and the chance of missing the delivery.

In that case it's nothing like as early as possible. Getting somewhere for 9am is like being ready for work, a normal day.

Getting there for store opening is a better way to describe the urgency required.

"there" being anywhere. In this case it's dropping something off. But I'm talking generally.

Fighting through traffic and waiting around because 'as early as possible' means crack of dawn or seeing heavy traffic as a reason to delay leaving time making "as early as possible" mean after the bad traffic has eased a bit.

It's as clear as mud, I know

Cross post.

If the delivery can't be solved with a note on the door to leave in x place / on doorstep and the other person deal with it when they get back if it has arrived then I would do the following.

Leave in order to miss whatever traffic delays may occur, so as to be waiting at the shop when they open. Get breakfast if there's a long wait between arriving and shop opening. Return thing and head straight back.

Or, think about whether the traffic will be bad on the way back too, and if so it might make sense to do the return later in the day when the time out of the house will be minimised. Coupled with either note on door or friend/relation/neighbour sitting in for the short while that you are home alone

In your situation I would understand ‘go as early as possible’ to mean ‘go for when the shop opens at 9am’.

Basically, you want him to go for when the shop opens so that he is back home as early as possible.

The earliest sensible time of course. At your earliest convenience, unless it was vitally important that it was literally as early as humanly possible, in which case I would hope you had planned it to ensure you got enough sleep the night before so you wouldn’t need to worry about driving when tired.

The crux of the matter is that 'as early as possible' is not a good enough instruction as it is open to misinterpretation. Whoever gave that instruction needed to be more specific.

Oh no, there's no issue. Like I said it's trivial and not an actual argument

Its just interesting the different interpretations of the phrase and the thinking behind it.

🤦 at your earliest convenience.

That's what I should have said and more accurately reflects what I was trying to say.

I'm still going to tell him Mumsnet agrees with me.
He'll never check.
Fuck it.
😁

i see what you’re saying now OP! I would say YABU and “as early as possible” means being prepared to put up with inconvenience in order to arrive for store opening.

"Possible" could mean different things.

"Early as possible to return the item" - aim to get there at 8:55 so you're first through the doors

"Early as possible to get there" - go now and camp outside

'As early as possible' means, in this case, to arrive at the parcel handover venue for opening time, which means factoring in the delays that rush hour traffic would bring and allowing for getting up, washed, dressed, breakfasted. So that might entail setting an alarm for 7am, so that all that is achieved to allow arrival at 9am.

'Aim to be earlier rather than later' would entail making sure that when you wake, you don't dilly dally around, but it might be sensible to wait 20 minutes to avoid traffic, etc.

'At your convenience' -any time as long as the goal is achieved.

As early as possible would mean any time up to about 2pm in this household, we're not known for being early risers!

I think under your circumstances he should stay at home until the delivery has been made and then take the item back.

In this situation"as early as possible" means to be there when the shop opens at nine. No ifs, no discussion, it's very clear what it means.

I woundn't use "as early as possible" in this context as it doesn't make sense. Unless it was to say plan to be there just before it opens so they could get back as early as possible.

In this context, I'd leave at 9.20 or so, so missing a lot of the work and school run, do it as quick as I could and be home ASAP- hopefully by 10 at the latest.

I’d probably do it the other way round and wait for the delivery which then go to the shop at some point before it closes.

In that circumstance surely he should leave as early as necessary to be there at 850ish then driving back at 9am should be relatively quick as worst of the traffic will be over. Can the delivery company be asked to call an hr in advance also.

Is it likely the delivery will arrive before 9am, if so then a call an hr before will resolve all issues.

I think it does also depend on external factors and traffic, etc. If I wanted to be at a shop for 9am in my local town, it would probably involve sitting in the car for about an hour to get there and be back by about 9:15. If I left at 9am, it would take about 15 mins to get there and would be back about 9:30. So I would gamble on being out the extra 15 mins for the delivery but reduce my time, out of the house by about 45 mins.

In this situation I'd get there for 9am.

It's a stupid phrase and I hate it. Same as "after lunch" just give a bloody TIME!

There is a hierarchy IMO. First of all is now/immediately then ASAP s different as it takes into account the circumstances which might preclude an immediate action.

This isn't what you are asking - but can the delivery people not provide any update at all as to what time they will be delivering ? Most deliveries now give a two our time slot - or an AM/PM with an update on the day.

In your scenario I would say your partner needs to leave home in time for the return to get to where it needs be by 9 AM - but there's no guarantee the delivery would not come while he's out - so I could understand he would be fed up if he got up earlier than normal, hurried out of the house, sat in traffic and still missed the delivery .

Do the two things absolutely have to happen on the same day?

Because I'd either wait until the delivery had happened then return the thing to the shop. Or i'd wait in for the delivery, and do the return another day.

To answer the question: I never say anything vague like "as early as possible" unless i really don't care. I like to fix a time so that everyone is clear.