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.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
122 Comments
View All Comments
Postoasted - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
First off great article. Have never bought from Newegg before, but after reading about it here I feel assured that they're not some fly-by-night chop shop. As a potential customer the fact that my package will come with peanut styrofoam is a big negative. But if the price is right I guess I can live with it.allometry - Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - link
I'm not sure if NewEgg is using the biodegradable peanuts made from a corn starch base. When you finally do place an order, grab one of those peanuts and run it under some water to see if it disapears.plonk420 - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
have you a solution as versitile as peanuts? i sure don'tplonk420 - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
how soon until they pay off the setup and their prices can go down to what they were when they first started? i miss those days...lsman - Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - link
Not when they are expanding to like China and rest and have to pay for those. :Dshabby - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
Looks like a basement operation to me, they sure fooled me....Zebo - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
Always like to read about orgins. Maybe next time. I've never had a complaint with newegg but there are others "just as good" and cheaper too such as Mwave.com Zipzoomfly.com for example. What really sets newegg apart is thier fantastic database for customers to search for exactly the prodcuts they are looking for and once found get a set of wonderful 360 degree pictures of the product! Great job!Hondaman4ever - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
This is a good article for those Industrial Engineers, pretty interesting facility layout.JumpyBL - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
Wow, great article. I used to do recieving work and Newegg's setup really makes me want to work there, looks fun, scanning in all the new products and handling tech stuff all day. Looking at all the CPU and memory products laying about is enough to give any tech enthusiast a stiff one. Thanks for the article and the contest Anandtech.thatsright - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
GREAT Article!!One of those rare AT article that held my attention 100%, and I read EVERY page.