Inside Newegg: They give us a Tour and you a Prize
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 14, 2006 3:31 PM EST- Posted in
- IT Computing
The Beginning
Our journey starts in receiving, this part of the process actually has nothing specifically to do with your order but what's done here makes the rest of the process infinitely easier. Shipping trucks will pull up to the warehouse and unload cargo pallets filled with computer products. A pallet is a wooden or plastic platform that can be picked up using a forklift; palletized cargo is cargo placed on a pallet, which is how Newegg's inventory is shipped to them.
Once the pallets are received and unpacked they are sent off to receiving, which is a mere 30 feet away. The pallets don't just magically appear at Newegg, they are ordered from a set of offices and cubicles attached to the warehouse:
What you see in the picture below are a few Newegg employees at computer terminals surrounded by hundreds of boxes. What they are doing is scanning each and every item that comes into Newegg. If it's a retail product, such as a boxed AMD CPU, then the retail barcode is used and information is attached to it. If it is an OEM product, such as an OEM AMD CPU, then Newegg will create their own barcode for the product. The bar-coding process is quite important because Newegg's system actually associates a great deal of information with each barcode.
For every product that's scanned not only are its specifications entered into the system but so are its physical dimensions and the weight of the product. The importance of this is that when your order is placed, Newegg's system knows exactly what size box(es) to ship your order in as well as how heavy your order will be. After your order is complete and before it is boxed up, the weight of the order (as well as the barcodes on each item) is checked against Newegg's database to make sure that you are indeed getting what you ordered.
In the far left corner of the picture above is a station where Newegg will take pictures of any new products coming into their warehouse, which end up being listed along with the product on their website.
After the products are received by Newegg, they are then sent to one of two places - the staging area or "the racks" where actively shipping product is organized and ready for orders that are being placed immediately.
The picture above is closest to the receiving area, and thus is the emptiest of the staging area. Newegg's facility here is no where near full capacity but also important is the fact that Newegg doesn't keep product for very long at all, which allows them to usually take advantage of the best pricing possible and in turn offer highly competitive prices to their customers.
The farther away you get from the receiving area, the more crowded the warehouse becomes:
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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
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.