Inside Newegg NJ: A New Warehouse and Another Contest
by Anand Lal Shimpi on May 20, 2008 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
How a Bill Becomes a L...err, How an Order Becomes a Tote
If Newegg's warehouse had a pulse it'd be a scary thing, as the system is unbelievably self-aware. The warehouse holds around 20,000 unique products and it is aware of the location and quantities of each and every one of them.
This tote is someone's order, I didn't tinker with it
Totes galore
There are tons of red totes that are constantly traveling through the warehouse on automated conveyor belts. They will keep circling until one of them is needed. When an order comes in from the website and is cleared for processing it is assigned to a tote; the order and the tote are married and are only separated once the order is boxed and ready to be shipped.
The totes run by these barcode scanners constantly, they monitor the contents of the tote and the order, if the order isn't complete it keeps getting routed through the warehouse until every last item is in there.
The tote is routed to various locations in the warehouse and filled by hand before being sent back out the conveyor system. The actual filling of the tote is done manually, but tracking the tote and deciding where it has to go is entirely automated. The warehouse knows where to send the totes and it can even detect traffic jams and slow totes down if need be.
Speedy totes
The entire system is optimized so that if the product is in stock in the warehouse closest to you, and your order is placed by 2PM EST, it will ship out that same day. Thanks to careful placement of these warehouses, you should be able to get what you ordered within a couple of days without having to pay for more expensive shipping. It's good to see that Newegg's goal of optimizing for ground shipping is still top priority.
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ValuePrivacy - Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - link
Shame on AnandTech for promoting this Newegg contest, because the registration requirements are highly objectionable. I had intended to register for it, until I saw on the Newegg registration page that they wanted my date of birth. What the hell do they need my date of birth for?! Considering that date of birth is highly useful for identity theft, and that no site can truly guarantee data security, I think that for them to ask for date of birth is unreasonable, for me to give it to them would be stupid, and for AnandTech to promote such a contest is undesirable. Oh, sure, I could just make up a date (I often do), but they might require the winner to fax his driver's license, and then refuse to give me the prize if I did win, because of the discrepancy. They will eventually need, for IRS reporting, the social security numbers of the winners, but they DON'T need soc. #s or birthdates of contest entrants. Give up your private data without truly good reason, and you are giving up your privacy. Give up your privacy, and soon the 4th amendnent to the constitution will be meaningless. Soon thereafter we'll be living in a police state.AmberClad - Friday, May 23, 2008 - link
Your post is absolutely laughable...by all means, please feel free to not enter this voluntary contest if you feel that NewEgg might use your date of birth for nefarious purposes, and spare us your pompous, sensationalist rant about privacy fears.ValuePrivacy - Friday, May 23, 2008 - link
This is (or used to be) a free country, and you are, of course, free to consider my post laughable. But I consider your naivete sad --- sad, most of all, for the future of this country. I'm old enough to remember when people still valued their privacy. Nowadays, they plaster their whole life on Facebook and MySpace, and egotistically think they've done something desirable. They haven't. And a corporation can, without good reason, ask for your private information, and you not only fork it over, you defend the request. It's all part of a greater pattern: accepting loss of privacy, with little understanding of the implications. Little by little, you and most other people accept the intrusions. And pretty soon, you accept that the government reads your email and listens to your phone calls without a warrant. It all seems normal, and natural, just the way things are. Well, let me clue you in: It may have become the norm, but it's not the way it used to be, and not the way the founders of this country (who fought for their freedom) envisioned it. And so, I'm going to repeat the question in my original post, so it doesn't get forgotten: What the hell do they need my birthdate for? (I'd like to hear a true answer from Newegg's CEO, but I won't hold my breath). Information is power. Power to manipulate your purchases, power to manipulate the political process. Governments and corporations know that, but a considerable portion of the population either doesn't know, or doesn't care (as long as they can get either their quad-core or Hollywood gossip fix).strikeback03 - Thursday, May 22, 2008 - link
Plenty of states require contest entrants/winners to be over 18.ValuePrivacy - Thursday, May 22, 2008 - link
That's true, but I don't think that's the reason in this case. According to their web site, Newegg is headquartered in City of Industry, California. Hewlett-Packard is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Same state. Right now, HP is running a contest; they ask entrants for name, email, and phone number, NOT BIRTH DATE. The HP contest rules do state that the contest is restricted to those 18 years of age or older, and that the WINNER will be required to submit an affidavit of eligibility. But they aren't collecting birthdates of contest ENTRANTS. That's a big difference, and let me reiterate: same state. I'm willing to give a corporation my birthdate if I WIN their contest. But Newegg is completely out of line to ask for birthdate of every ENTRANT.irev210 - Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - link
I love the NJ warehouse, shipments always make it to Boston in 1 business day.Smart move for a warehouse in NJ for us Boston/New York guys :)
rudder - Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - link
Thanks to the warehouse in Tennessee... I get charged 10% sales tax on my Newegg orders ... :(KnightRid - Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - link
I wish there would be a video to go along with it! I love the factory tour shows. It is neat to see how everything is actually done. Thanx for the look inside!NJ has been shipping to me for years, this must be a new warehouse?
Mike
Only thing I can say bad is this - why dont they put peanuts in the box BEFORE adding your items, then again AFTER adding your items. I get boxes of thousands of dollars worth of parts that are sitting on the bottom of the box where they get the most abuse, with a ton of peanuts above them! Put some peanuts in the box before you add the merchandise!!! or at least a layer of bubble wrap - anything would be better than letting UPS throw the boxes around with no protection on the bottom.
Frallan - Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - link
As usual - i am dissapointed but hey - I am also glad in comparison to most other organizations running sweepstakes you are aware that there is a world outside the US borders.
Thx for trying :0)
/Frallan
nubie - Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - link
I see now how they could ship a carton of Eeepc's to people instead of one :DThe system lights up and the carton is the same size as a laptop box, it must be a laptop ;)
That is a pretty schweet warehouse.
UPS vs. Fedex, hmm, I think UPS has got the infrastructure in place for this sort of operation (Fedex is not even close IIRC, remember what it was like when UPS went on strike? Fedex couldn't handle the volume.)
UPS has never "package smashed" any of my goods, from what I hear it is the middle of the country that is a Bermuda Triangle for UPS stuff, in CA I have no problem (and a lot of stuff I get from the east, it must be on a plane over the crappy hubs, or stay on the truck all the way to the West coast.)