Picked mine up from the UPS customer center right after they opened. I wasn't trying to be first in line, this was just the only window I had available, but as a result I had my iphone mini setting up before 8:30 AM on the East Coast!
The very nice guy at the counter in the distribution center was saying he always knows when it's iphone day! And sneaker drops are the other big one. He knew that I had the mini (at least, that I had the cheaper phone that was being sent out today) because the PMs are marked as "high value" and the packages are stored under lock and key. I wonder what the threshold is for that -- maybe $1000?