The Picker

Finally, at the very back of the warehouse there's a three-level rack/picker setup and this is where your order from Newegg is actually born.


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The three levels are organized in terms of product "velocity" or the speed at which Newegg sells through of that particular product. A proprietary algorithm designed in-house by Newegg determines velocity. High velocity products (pictured below) such as in-demand motherboards or video cards will be found on the first floor, while medium and low velocity products such as server boards, certain optical drives, etc... will be found on the second and third floors respectively. The idea is that the easiest to load floor is the first floor, and that's where product that needs to be frequently replenished should be.


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Some "medium velocity" items

As soon as Newegg receives your order it is allocated a bar-coded tub; the encoded in the tub's label is data on every item that's in your order as well as where it is located within Newegg's warehouse. The automated system will not print a shipping label for your order unless every item in your order matches all of the barcodes in the tub.

The tub glides along a rolling conveyer, which will carry the tub from the start on the first floor all the way up to the third floor. Along its journey it will pass by Newegg's inventory; the system (pictured below), knowing exactly what your order should contain, will stop the tub whenever it gets to an item that needs to be put into it.


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The Beginning The Picker (continued)
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  • Kuroyama - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link

    Since no one was specific about location, seems the link to the contest on "The Secure Area" page wasn't fixed, although the entry later in the article is OK.
  • bigboxes - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link

    I had to use IE. I'd rather not have to use IE if at all possible.
  • bldckstark - Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - link

    I clicked the link in the article, and the advertisement link on the left frame, and both worked just fine for me with FF. The ad opened a new window, the link changed pages. Also I haven't seen it mentioned yet guys, but I bet this article is already linked all over the net.

    Anand and crew, how much is traffic up (or down) over normal since you posted this article?
  • allometry - Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - link

    I would check your FF install. I'm using 1.5 and had no issues signing up...
  • Marlin1975 - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link

    quote:

    However FedEx Ground isn't as good as UPS ground



    Sorry but what is that based off of??? I have used both for a LONG time between items that were basic small to large items such as engine heads I have ported or crankshafts and can say Fed-Ex ground has never been a problem for me or anybody else i know that ships a good deal. Even in the anandtech forums most swear by Fed-Ex ground way before UPS.

    Also if Fed-Ex ground is the same price as UPS ground then why does Newegg not offer Fed-Ex ground?
  • superkdogg - Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - link

    If UPS ground is better, can somebody tell them that my laptop ram that I ordered two weeks ago(!) should be here by now. Not only did the shipment originate in New Jersey and miss Wisconsin instead landing in Phoenix (already late at this point), it was then rescheduled for delivery another 6 days later(!!).

    So far it's been 14 days (counting weekends, so a little slack there). This wouldn't be so bad, but that I'm off work after some surgery and can't sit up long enough to use my desktop. So I'm stuck struggling with my new laptop that I got cheap since it has only 256 MB of ram. Try to play any game with integrated graphics and 256 MB using XP (Home in my case) - ain't pretty. Oh well, allegedly my additional 1 MB is coming sometime soon (unless it inexplicably ends up in Nova Scotia on its way back).
  • superkdogg - Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - link

    Oops. Obviously 1 MB wouldn't make much difference. 1 GB would.
  • Cygni - Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - link

    Im with you, FedEx Ground blows UPS Ground away in my book. I always fork over the extra couple bones to get FedEx Ground when I blow paychecks on newegg (fairly regularly) after a couple "experiments" when Newegg switched to UPS... Boxes always come quicker, and in much better shape.

    I do like the OPTION of shipping with either, but for my dollar, im going with FedEx.
  • LoneWolf15 - Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - link

    Ditto. I'll choose FedEx Ground over UPS Ground anytime. They've been more gentle on my packages, I've gotten far better customer service too. I'll gladly pay a buck extra per package to get FedEx Ground over UPS Ground.
  • bob661 - Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - link

    Yeah, UPS Ground blows ass.

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