While supply chain issues may delay items you ordered for the holidays, Amazon is confident its investments in logistics, workforce labor, and stock will ensure you get that package in a timely manner.
"We're not seeing that many delays," said Amazon global communications director Rena Lunak. "We're very confident in our ability to ship out our products in a timely manner."
Cheddar News visited the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Robbinsville, N.J., to find out how your order turns from a click of a mouse into a box on your doorstep. The process has many parts, but the company says it is efficient. During Black Friday, it shipped 1,600 items per second.
How Amazon Processes an Order
After a customer places an order online, the product is located by an Amazon Fulfillment Center employee. In certain locations, including Robbinsville, automated robots help bring items to the workers.
That item is sent via a conveyor belt to the packing department, where another person puts it in a box or appropriate shipping container. For oddly-shaped packages, machines sometimes aid with the boxing process. A labeling machine places the address and other necessary information on the box to tell the system where the packages need to end up.
The package then continues through the miles of conveyor belts where it is scanned several times to make sure it's headed in the right direction. In the final stretch, a conveyor belt with attached devices gently shoves the package into the right chute to be sent on its way with the rest of the items headed in a similar direction.
Amazon's Next Steps
A lot of the orders are delivered through Amazon's own fleet of planes, vans, and freight. The company plans to have 85 planes for Amazon Air by the end of 2021 and is working with Rivian to produce 100,000 electric delivery vans by 2030. The first 10,000 will be on the road starting next year.
To keep things flowing, Amazon has also hired for more than 200,000 jobs this year alone, and it has plans to continue hiring globally.
There is more in store for customers as well, said Lunak.
"We have a lot of deals for everybody in the family, whether you're looking for toys and electronics, beauty products, and they'll continue to be on sale throughout the holiday season," she said.
Orangetheory Fitness is redefining the future of workouts with smarter tech, strength-based programming, and community-driven studios built for what’s next.
Spain's government has fined Airbnb 64 million euros or $75 million for advertising unlicensed tourist rentals. The consumer rights ministry announced the fine on Monday. The ministry stated that many listings lacked proper license numbers or included incorrect information. The move is part of Spain's ongoing efforts to regulate short-term rental companies amid a housing affordability crisis especially in popular urban areas. The ministry ordered Airbnb in May to remove around 65,000 listings for similar violations. The government's consumer rights minister emphasized the impact on families struggling with housing. Airbnb said it plans to challenge the fine in court.
Roomba maker iRobot has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but says that it doesn’t expect any disruptions to devices as the more than 30-year-old company is taken private under a restructuring process. iRobot said that it is being acquired by Picea through a court-supervised process. Picea is the company's primary contract manufacturer. The Bedford, Massachusetts-based anticipates completing the prepackaged chapter 11 process by February.
Serbia’s prosecutor for organized crime has charged a government minister and three others with abuse of position and falsifying of documents related to a luxury real estate project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The charges came on Monday. The investigation centers on a controversy over a a bombed-out military complex in central Belgrade that was a protected cultural heritage zone but that is facing redevelopment as a luxury compound by a company linked to Kushner. The $500 million proposal to build a high-rise hotel, offices and shops at the site has met fierce opposition from experts at home and abroad. Selakovic and others allegedly illegally lifted the protection status for the site by falsifying documentation.
