I have no problem purchasing from Lenovo, but you may get it faster elsewhere if they actually have stock. Stuff from Lenovo will ship from China, though you can get free expedited shipping if you join their rewards program, for free. I got my P14s gen 4 AMD in 4 days, shipping to doorstep (edit: to the US midwest). It took about 11 or 12 days to ship, but that shouldn't be taken into consideration because everyone's orders were delayed for this brand new model.
You can get some pretty good savings in their outlet, and in their ebay store. But if you're looking for last gen, you probably want to look around to find the best deal. It might be direct, it might not, I know people are finding Z13's for $600 to $700 right now, which is much cheaper than Lenovo. Antonline has a first gen X1 Nano for $699 for months now, and I don't think Lenovo has any price like that.
I'd also strongly recommend looking into the T14s, unless you need the absolute thinnest and lightest. The X1 Carbon has always had some cooling issues, and the T14s gen 3 AMD in particular is a very well balanced machine as far as size, performance, and heat/noise.
Also check to see if your company has an EPP through them, I got around $400 off an approximately $1850 laptop. They also have deals for students, teachers, and first responders, if I remember correctly.