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
Packing your Order and the Peanut Gun
With your order now complete, your tub heads down this high speed rolling conveyer but you will note that the conveyer has a row of metal links on the right side. The purpose of these links is to push your tub into the appropriate ramp for boxing when the system tells it that one is free. The picture below shows the metal links in action:
After your tub is sent down the ramp, everything is removed from the tub, scanned and compared against your order. Newegg's system will not print a shipping label unless the items in your tub match the items you ordered. With everything scanned and your label printed your items are boxed and then sent off to the peanut gun.
The peanut gun is by far one of the coolest things in Newegg's warehouse, and it's exactly what you'd expect. An enormous vat of packaging peanuts is hung from the ceiling of the warehouse (pictured above) and individual guns dangle from it like cow udders (pretty picture):
The peanut gun itself is pretty simple; you aim, squeeze the trigger and peanuts come out:
With your valuables bubble wrapped and the box filled with peanuts, it's handed off to the automatic taping machine. That's right, you hold the box shut and feed it into the machine that takes over and tapes it shut.
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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.