They do have pre-order production under way for just about every product, and it can be seen from the fact that not only are some orders being fulfilled right now from China, but others coming from staging points in the US.
It seems to me that we're in danger of failing to notice how complicated this is. All those colours, 3 different models, 4 different drive sizes, additional extras and options - they obviously have to estimate the sales performance of the various models and BTO options, and try and work out how many of what needs to be where, but they are also a retailer, and that means their stores need to be stocked to some degree.
What it comes down to is that there are simply not going to be enough of every model to distribute them in time, plus enough again to pile them up in retail stores. It isn't possible to build that many in advance of release, and them not already be moving to manufacture the replacement model.
Unfortunately, it means that some lose out. And even worse, it could be a matter of a few seconds in the pre-order queue between whether you get yours on the day or have to wait a week or more for the next production batch.
In your situation, if I had an Apple store anywhere near me, I'd be there in the morning to see what stock they have, and if they have one of what I want, I'd buy it, and return the one that was pre-ordered for a refund when it was delivered.
