Farnell seems like a weird vendor to pick out as being slow or unreliable. I've always been amazed by the delivery of stuff I've ordered from Farnell - often you can order it at 7.50pm and it'll be there the next morning. In fact in probably 50+ orders I've never had one go missing or arrive more than a day late.
RS and Farnell in the UK use parcel force and UPS respectively. The success rate for me is higher on stuff shipped from China.
I've had some stuff from Leeds to London end up in Belgium for two days.