a brush with fame

They didn't know it at the time, but for the millions of folks who bought books, CDs and DVDs from Amazon.com in July were also buying a shot at a brush with fame. As part of its 10th anniversary celebration, the pioneering Internet bookseller teamed up with UPS to make special deliveries to randomly selected customers across the country. And it wasn't the merchandise that made the deliveries special.

Scores of Amazon customers opened their doors to find a favorite actor, musician, athlete or author personally delivering their Amazon.com order alongside a UPS driver. Among the celebrities who took part were actor Harrison Ford, who delivered a "Raiders of the Lost Ark" DVD; Grammy-award winning musician Moby, who hand-delivered his recently released CD, "Hotel;" and Jason Alexander (George Costanza), who delivered a new "Seinfeld" DVD. (To view streaming video footage of these special deliveries, visit www.amazon.com.)

July 16, 2005, marked 10 years since founder and CEO Jeff Bezos opened the virtual doors of Amazon.com from his Seattle-area garage. Since 1995, the Web site has expanded its product offerings from books to include music, videos, tennis rackets, live Maine lobsters and loose diamonds. Over the past 10 years, UPS has delivered more than 175 million Amazon.com packages.