Exactly right. I owned a shop for a few years, and during the busy season, it was common to do at least a couple of orders a week that surpassed the free shipping threshold. Most distributors would ship by overnight courier, so an order that goes in before noon today will be at my door tomorrow.
During the off season, the order frequency will be less, maybe one order every couple of week, so if you can wait a few days, it's not a big deal.