Same here - off Fridays. You're not irresponsible..............
Pssst. Don't tell anybody - with Fedex Priority Overnight, they have Saturday delivery. Or you can ship out Thursday for a 9 AM pickup at the local hub.
The Fedex hub is 10 minutes from where I live. I often just have them hold for pickup and get my animals at 9 AM friday morning. In the one instance where there was a weather delay with the plane, they delivered the animal Saturday morning.