From the Click of a Button to a Knock at Your Door – The Journey of a Package
In 2020, the parcel (package) industry set a new record as over 3 billion packages were shipped. A lot of that is due to the pandemic, but nonetheless, consumers ordering products online has only gotten more popular. This raises the question, what does the journey of my package I delivered or ordered look like? In this blog, we are going to dive into the great parcel adventure.
After Checkout
So you just ordered a product, or you just got an order; now what? Online marketplaces like Amazon, Lazada and Taobao have fulfillment centers all over the world and the back-end systems will kick in to fill your order. Once the system has validated the purchase, it is then secured and sent to the employees who package it.
Getting Your Package Ready
Employees are in charge of picking the right items off the shelves but not without the help of technology these days. Depending on the size of the company and the fulfillment center, companies will arrange their products based on specific algorithms. The most popular products are shelved closer together — even if they are not from the same product category. This allows employees to quickly grab that product and ship it as soon as they can.
This is especially useful when you consider the size of some of these fulfillment centers. For example, the juggernaut, Amazon, has a facility in Tennessee that spans over 3.6 million square feet.
Out for Delivery
The majority of deliveries are still performed by people, from packing your purchases into boxes and stowing them into delivery trucks. Considering that there were over 3 billion packages delivered in 2020, that is incredible. Big companies like Amazon have considered replacing humans for packaging and delivering and have even brought up ideas of drones delivering to people’s houses and businesses.
The Adventure to Your Doorstep
A lot of packages are flown to another distribution center if the destination is a considerable distance. Depending on the company and the location, a truck can also be driven that delivers your package to a distribution center. It is then delivered by one of the very famous delivery trucks/vans from Amazon, UPS, FedEx, and more straight to your door.
When parcels are too big to be flown, they can go by truck or go by sea — and that’s where ports play an essential role. Port terminals too, are increasingly armed with sophisticated tech to make sure things get to where they need to go, on time.
As far as returned packages go, that’s a whole other beast that we will tackle in a future blog!
Contact Rocky Mountain Adhesives
If your business is heavy on sending your customers your product, take a look at our adhesive and packaging product today and get the most from your distribution strategy. Our goal is to provide our customers with the most reliable packaging supplies to save your business time and money. Learn more today and contact our team if you have any questions or concerns!
