The Peanut Gun

If you're going to have an automated box maker, you absolutely need to also have a packaging peanut delivery system to go along with it. When you enter the warehouse on the far right you'll see two large vats:


The peanut vats are to the left

In these two massive vats are about a tractor trailer's worth of packaging peanuts. They are piped to the packing area using metal ducting that you see in the picture above. The peanuts are sent to mini-vats in the actual packing area and from there they are sent to the peanut guns:

As the order is completed, the tote is sent to the label station where each item is scanned individually and a label is generated to make sure what you ordered is what goes in the box.


The label station


Label printed

The peanut guns dispense packaging peanuts into boxes as they are readied for shipping:

If the Newegg staffer filling the box gets a little too excited and shoots peanuts everywhere, never fear: the system is self-recycling.

Any peanuts that miss their target get sucked back into the system, minimizing waste and maximizing peanut-fun. Newegg insists that packaging peanuts are still the most economical form of packaging, although within the next few years we may see some more eco-friendly solutions arise.


Delicate items are individually wrapped in bubblewrap


Newegg has a bit of bubblewrap on hand


Some things must be done by hand

Once full of peanuts, the box is pushed through the automatic taping machine and sent off to shipping:

The Box Maker Off to See the Wizard
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  • Screammit - Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - link

    When I was in the navy and sitting off the coast of Chile, a buddy fried a motherboard (don't ask why our desktops were on the ship :P ) and ordered one from newegg, they had it to us in a week. I was impressed enough to give them my business ever since.
  • Aolish - Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - link

    This is definitely one of the best tours I've seen. Neweggs facility looks extremely efficient and clean. I'm just really disappointed that the contest doesn't apply to NY. To bad they didn't explain why. :(
  • Yongsta - Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - link

    I remember my first purchase from Newegg in 2001 or so... it was an AMD Duron, I've never heard of the company before but I took a chance because a lot of positive feedback on the forums. I've spent about $40k there over the years (mostly builds for friends & family) and it's great to see how they've grown over the years.
  • Yongsta - Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - link

    Good article but I think it's facility. ;)
  • Yongsta - Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - link

    nm looks like it's fixed now.
  • vijay333 - Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - link

    "In Florida, New York and Rhode Island sponsors are required to register all sweepstakes where the total retail value of all the prizes is greater than $5,000. Florida and New York require the sponsor to bond the sweepstakes equal to the total value of the prizes. Once the winners are announced, a winners’ list must be provided to the state(s) in order to release the bond."
  • AmberClad - Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - link

    What is it with NY being so anal about these types of things. As if the Amazon tax wasn't enough. Added to my list of states to never move to, along with CA (with all the stuff I buy from eTailers, that state sales tax would hit me pretty hard...).
  • BernardP - Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - link

    Seeing this huge warehouse with all the available inventory and the way everything is automated, I realize I should give up hope for Newegg in Canada. Canada's population (30 M) is less than California (36 M), the most populous US state. Not enough economies of scale in Canada.
  • chizow - Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - link

    Only missing from the pics is Anand running through the isles with Geoffrey singing the Toys R Us theme song. Ok maybe not, but thats what the tour reminded me of, those Toys R Us shopping spree commercials from years ago.

    But ya the Edison warehouse has been great. I think I started getting shipments from there 6-12 months ago. Its much better than the Tennessee warehouse in terms of shipping speed and product selection. I remember there was still a pretty good chance of getting a shipment out of a CA warehouse due to limited stock in TN, but now everything, even more obscure items come out of NJ for me.
  • IcePickFreak - Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - link

    I had visions of those Toys R Us commercials as well. When I die, I wanna go to a Newegg warehouse.

    Enjoyable read, I often wonder how they ship so fast even now when they've made the 'big-time' so-to-speak and ship even more stuff. My only gripe was when they switched from Fed-ex to UPS as their preferred carrier. I've worked at both places before and know what goes on behind the scenes at each, and have had some shady dealings with UPS as a customer.

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