Note that “optimizing” Amazon package can’t possibly be a very high bar to clear. Just being smart enough to package multiple items coming from the same distribution center on the same delivery route into the same box would do it… Something that other online retailers figured out decades ago but apparently somehow Amazon still hasn’t.
Care to expound? Can you explain why a small bottle of vitamins will sometimes come in a box 8 times it’s size. Filled with air bubble packing?
I’ve always got the sense that box size was not at all a priority for them.
Depends on how it is fulfilled, if it comes from an Amazon warehouse directly vs directly fulfilled by a third party (if it comes in an Amazon branded box with Amazon tape it probably got fulfilled at an Amazon warehouse).
If it did get fulfilled at an Amazon warehouse, the one I worked at it goes through a process wherein it is retrieved either by a “picker” manually or via a KIVA bot filled with items (depends on how old the warehouse is, I’d be surprised if they’re not all converted to KIVA bot style by now as it’s been nearly ten years since I’ve worked there and I worked in a brand new warehouse at the time and we had the bots style)
So the picker puts it into a bin with several other items all scanned together using the ASIN number (separate Amazon barcode, longer and shorter then other barcodes) which gets loaded onto a conveyer which eventually ends up at a sorter, if it’s AFE (multi-item orders, the department I mostly worked in) it gets pushed to a certain line where it’s manually further sorted from the yellow bin, scanned again and placed into a smaller grey bin (rebin) which goes to another sorter eventually into another line where it gets placed into a wall of cubby-holes (I believe that was called induction), the cubby holes would have all the items for an order, once it’s “complete” you push it through to the other side of the cubby hole where the packers are, the packers have a screen that tells them what items are in the order, along with which box to use, they have a whole wall in front of them of different box sizes, along with a feed of the larger bubble cushin things and an automatic tape dispenser for the box side the system told the packer it needed (it didn’t work a lot of the time so there were also buttons to select a specific box size of tape).
After all that the packer pushes it forward into another conveyer belt, where it is weighed automatically to hopefully ensure it is correct, if it is close enough to the correct weight, it goes out to shipping. (If not, it gets kicked out for problem solvers to figure out what’s wrong with it, that was my main job).
Single item pack is less complex slightly for obvious reasons (don’t have to stage the items together) but is the same basic idea.
Now to answer the questions specifically, why a small bottle of vitamins ends up in a large box, either they ran out of the correct box needed or it was just an incompetent worker who doesn’t care what box they use regardless of what the system tells them they should use. Technically the system could kick it out, but that’s a lot of extra time, effort and a wasted box.
Interesting. Thanks. I’m guessing that Amazon maybe isn’t great at incentivizing workers to care. If the last step for a single item is a human putting it into a box, I could see it being easier to have a stack of big boxes that one would just default to rather than paying attention to size recommendations.
I only lasted 6 months, if that’s any indication lol.
It was a really cool job, but you can’t have your phone while working (have to literally leave it outside in a locker, there are metal detractors you walk through to get in and out), the breaks are way too short (there were times more then half my break was spent just walking from my area to the break room when I did pick), and to top it off, it was a 4/10 shift (overnights for me) and frequently they would tell us on the last day right before midnight that we had to work another full 10 hour day tomorrow.
After several months of 5/12s during “peak” seasons (nov - march) I had enough.
In my experience, every item from the same warehouse comes packaged together. Are you sure the items are sourced from the same warehouse, because they aren’t going to unpack them and pack them together again when they reach the final distribution location. Perhaps it becomes super inefficient to pack items together in super large warehouses, where the items are sourced far apart from each other?
Yes, I did. And what it talks about actually ignores my complaint, which is why I file their claim about “avoid more than 2 millions tons of packaging material worldwide” in the bogus column.
Their system obviously does not take into account multi-item orders at all, and seems to operate purely on a one-product, one-package model. Which is stupid. They’re not trying to avoid landfill waste, they’re trying to minimize returns due to breakages but without putting any human intervention into the process.
Note that “optimizing” Amazon package can’t possibly be a very high bar to clear. Just being smart enough to package multiple items coming from the same distribution center on the same delivery route into the same box would do it… Something that other online retailers figured out decades ago but apparently somehow Amazon still hasn’t.
Used to work at an Amazon warehouse, things are a lot more complex then you seem to realize.
Care to expound? Can you explain why a small bottle of vitamins will sometimes come in a box 8 times it’s size. Filled with air bubble packing? I’ve always got the sense that box size was not at all a priority for them.
Depends on how it is fulfilled, if it comes from an Amazon warehouse directly vs directly fulfilled by a third party (if it comes in an Amazon branded box with Amazon tape it probably got fulfilled at an Amazon warehouse).
If it did get fulfilled at an Amazon warehouse, the one I worked at it goes through a process wherein it is retrieved either by a “picker” manually or via a KIVA bot filled with items (depends on how old the warehouse is, I’d be surprised if they’re not all converted to KIVA bot style by now as it’s been nearly ten years since I’ve worked there and I worked in a brand new warehouse at the time and we had the bots style)
So the picker puts it into a bin with several other items all scanned together using the ASIN number (separate Amazon barcode, longer and shorter then other barcodes) which gets loaded onto a conveyer which eventually ends up at a sorter, if it’s AFE (multi-item orders, the department I mostly worked in) it gets pushed to a certain line where it’s manually further sorted from the yellow bin, scanned again and placed into a smaller grey bin (rebin) which goes to another sorter eventually into another line where it gets placed into a wall of cubby-holes (I believe that was called induction), the cubby holes would have all the items for an order, once it’s “complete” you push it through to the other side of the cubby hole where the packers are, the packers have a screen that tells them what items are in the order, along with which box to use, they have a whole wall in front of them of different box sizes, along with a feed of the larger bubble cushin things and an automatic tape dispenser for the box side the system told the packer it needed (it didn’t work a lot of the time so there were also buttons to select a specific box size of tape).
After all that the packer pushes it forward into another conveyer belt, where it is weighed automatically to hopefully ensure it is correct, if it is close enough to the correct weight, it goes out to shipping. (If not, it gets kicked out for problem solvers to figure out what’s wrong with it, that was my main job).
Single item pack is less complex slightly for obvious reasons (don’t have to stage the items together) but is the same basic idea.
Now to answer the questions specifically, why a small bottle of vitamins ends up in a large box, either they ran out of the correct box needed or it was just an incompetent worker who doesn’t care what box they use regardless of what the system tells them they should use. Technically the system could kick it out, but that’s a lot of extra time, effort and a wasted box.
Interesting. Thanks. I’m guessing that Amazon maybe isn’t great at incentivizing workers to care. If the last step for a single item is a human putting it into a box, I could see it being easier to have a stack of big boxes that one would just default to rather than paying attention to size recommendations.
I only lasted 6 months, if that’s any indication lol.
It was a really cool job, but you can’t have your phone while working (have to literally leave it outside in a locker, there are metal detractors you walk through to get in and out), the breaks are way too short (there were times more then half my break was spent just walking from my area to the break room when I did pick), and to top it off, it was a 4/10 shift (overnights for me) and frequently they would tell us on the last day right before midnight that we had to work another full 10 hour day tomorrow.
After several months of 5/12s during “peak” seasons (nov - march) I had enough.
In my experience, every item from the same warehouse comes packaged together. Are you sure the items are sourced from the same warehouse, because they aren’t going to unpack them and pack them together again when they reach the final distribution location. Perhaps it becomes super inefficient to pack items together in super large warehouses, where the items are sourced far apart from each other?
Bruh did you read the article at all? Nothing you talked about has anything to do with what this AI is for.
Yes, I did. And what it talks about actually ignores my complaint, which is why I file their claim about “avoid more than 2 millions tons of packaging material worldwide” in the bogus column.
Their system obviously does not take into account multi-item orders at all, and seems to operate purely on a one-product, one-package model. Which is stupid. They’re not trying to avoid landfill waste, they’re trying to minimize returns due to breakages but without putting any human intervention into the process.