From Your Mouse To Your House

By Joe Zeff

1 You order three items and a computer in Seattle takes charge

A computer assigns your order--a book, a game and a digital camera--to one of Amazon's seven U.S. distribution centers, five of which it opened this year. With 3 million sq. ft., Amazon has 1.5 times the floor space of the Empire State Building.

Seattle 93,000 sq. ft. Fernley, Nev. 332,650 Grand Forks, N.D. 130,000 Coffeyville, Kans. 750,000 New Castle, Del. 202,000 Campbellsville, Ky. 770,000 McDonough, Ga. 800,000

2 In suburban Atlanta, three red lights go on

Your order is transmitted to the closest facility that has the products. Amazon's newest, in McDonough, Ga., opened in October and stocks more than a million items. Rows of red lights show which products are ordered. Workers move from bulb to bulb, retrieving an item from the shelf above an pressing a button that resets the light. Computers determine which workers go where.

3 Your items are put into crates on moving belts

Each item goes into a large green crate that contains many customers' orders. When full, the crates ride a series of conveyor belts that winds more than 1 miles through the plant at a constant speed of 2.9 ft. per sec. The bar code on each item is scanned 15 times, by machines and by many of the 600 full-time workers, all of whom get Amazon stock options.

4 All three items converge in a chute and then inside a box

All of the crates arrive at a central point where bar codes are matched with order numbers to determine who gets what. Your three items end up in a 3-ft.-wide chute--one of several thousand--and are placed into a cardboard box with a new bar code that identifies your order.

5 Any gifts you've chosen are wrapped by hand

Amazon trains an elite group of gift wrappers to "make it look like Mom's." Each worker processes 30 packages an hour (those who fail are reassigned to other jobs). For its busiest season yet, Amazon's warehouses are stocked with 4.4 million yards of ribbon and 7.8 million sq. ft. of wrapping paper--which if laid flat would more than cover Disneyland.

6 The box is packed, taped, weighed and labeled before leaving the warehouse in a truck

The McDonough plant was designed to ship as many as 20,000 pieces a day. About 60% of orders are shipped via the U.S. Postal Service; nearly everything else goes through United Parcel Service. Both have large facilities within 10 miles of the warehouse. Products that are usually big or heavy (150 lbs. or more) require special delivery.

7 Your order arrives at your doorstep

Voila! One to seven days later, yet another of Amazon's 13 million customers has been served

--By Joe Zeff