TW: We are big Netflix fans. Huge library, relatively cheap, and we like the pacing, having movies totally on demand as opposed to spaced out in the mail almost seems like overkill. This piece describes the strange world of Netflix fulfillment. I have more than a passing interest in logistics, it is what makes the world go round, wins wars etc.
From Chicago Tribune:
"... Its biggest secret remains the warehouses themselves -- for two reasons. No. 1, each holds several million DVDs, not to mention expensive mail-sorting gizmos and dry-board posted statistics on how many discs were recently returned damaged, placed in the wrong sleeve or scratched. And No. 2, Netflix has grown leery of what happens when customers learn the location of a warehouse -- they drop off DVDs at the door. This will not help get your next disc out faster -- and neither will dropping a disc in the mail early in the morning. (Even Netflix employees are asked to use the post office for Netflix returns.)...
The building is intentionally disguised, dumpy and drab, the warehouse tucked behind another office building closer to the street. There is also not a single identifiable piece of Netflix signage on anything out front -- not a nameplate or a flash of Netflix red, and certainly not any corporate logos. Unmarked trucks roll up, then roll out. Employees (called "associates," in Netflix-ese) enter through a less-than-obvious door.
...Forty-two people work here, nearly every one in a red Netflix T-shirt, nearly every one in constant motion. Indeed, I was asked not to disturb their groove and hit them up with questions. The busiest sat in wide rows, flanked with post office cartons stuffed with Netflix envelopes.Six nights a week, a truck leaves for the post office and picks up cartons full of these return-address envelopes; pickup is at 3 a.m.
...a seemingly disproportionate number of local grandparents; they have full medical benefits and a 40-hour workweek.They inspect each returned disc. They rip open each envelope, toss it, pull the disc from its sleeve, check that the title matches the sleeve, inspect the disc for cracks or scratches, inspect the sleeve for stains or marks, clean the disc with a quick circular motion on a towel pulled tight across a square block of wood, insert the disc into its sleeve, and file the disc in one of two bins. The bin to the right is for acceptable discs, the bin to the left is for damaged discs or discs not in the proper sleeve.To a casual observer, this all seems to happen in a single motion, a flurry of fingers. Employees are expected to perform this a minimum of 650 times an hour. Also, customers stuff things into the envelopes. Scribbled movie reviews, complaints, pictures of dogs and kids. That needs sorting too. After 65 minutes of inspection, a bell rings. Everyone stands up.Calisthenics!The team leader leans back, and everyone leans back. The team leader leans sideways. Everyone leans sideways. And so on.
This pattern of inspection and exercise repeats every 65 minutes, until rental-return inspection is complete. Swasey, who drove in from Columbus, Ohio, where there is an even larger hub, pointed to a photocopy taped to the wall -- a picture of Disc 4 of "Rescue Me" Season 4 alongside a sleeve that promised Disc 4 of "Rescue Me" Season 3. It's a kind of Netflix perp walk. Some diligent associate caught the mistake before it shipped. "To me, I see it as a goose bump moment,"...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-0804-netflixaug04,0,6424990.story
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