A recent thread in another forum prompted me to read GD's legal
fine prints and look for how long they'll "keep" an expired name.
Apparently they've now changed it from 30 days:

http://web.archive.org/web/20050213212531/www.godaddy.com/gdshop/legal_agreements/show_doc.asp?se=+&pageid=REG_SA

The Renewal Grace Period is currently 30 days but subject to change under the terms of Section 2 of this Agreement.

To 12 days:

http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/legal_agreements/show_doc.asp?se=%2B&pageid=REG%5FSA

The Renewal Grace Period is currently 12 days but subject to change under the terms of Section 2 of this Agreement.

Heads up.

I think we will see all registrars follow suit. The grace period costs registrars money

Thanks for the heads up, Dave. ;)

We should have guessed that GoDaddy would fall from grace sooner or later. :D

Yup, the larger a registrar gets the more money they need to float to keep domains in a grace period. Basically, the registrar pays the full reg fee for the domain to keep it in grace period.

...they get it back when the domains drops.

Probably enom and tucows will follow soon