Inside Newegg: They give us a Tour and you a Prize
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 14, 2006 3:31 PM EST- Posted in
- IT Computing
Shipping and the UPS/FedEx Debate
With the box taped your order is now on the last leg of its trip through Newegg's warehouse as it heads down the final set of rolling conveyers.
The metal crates and employees that you see below are all for Army Post Office and Fleet Post Office (APO/FPO) shipments to the US Military. "Shipping to the US Military is requires extensive paperwork in comparison to our normal shipping operations," says Howard Tong, Vice President of Newegg.com. "Not many companies provide this service but we feel it's worth the extra effort to support our troops and our nation."
With your box packed, labeled and taped up it's off to shipping and it's in Newegg's shipping that most of the recent controversy has been about. Newegg's default shipping is through UPS, although you can pay extra for FedEx. Newegg used to be a FedEx shop by default, however recently FedEx significantly raised their rates, which Newegg passes directly onto their customers. Newegg claims that the rate hike was an attempt by FedEx to discourage customers from shipping via 3-day air, which loses money for FedEx, and instead choose FedEx ground which is profitable.
However FedEx Ground isn't as good as UPS ground, so the end result is frustrated FedEx 3-day air customers that have to pay more, or customers forced out of pricing to go with UPS, which hasn't always had the best track record. In response to complaints about UPS VP Tong says, "We're serious about providing our customers with the best service. We've taken the criticisms about UPS constructively and have greatly improved the situation. However we're always striving for perfection and always welcome further feedback."
With the truck loaded, it's off to your delivery address. As we mentioned at the start of this article, Newegg's goal is to be able to have your shipment to you within 2 days of ordering it regardless of shipping method. It's not a guarantee, but rather an internal goal that they've been striving for ever since their inception.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
122 Comments
View All Comments
jamesbond007 - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
Thanks Anand and NewEgg for the great pics and tour! As a long-time NewEgg customer, it was very intriguing to read the article and gaze at the pictures because I've always wondered how a place like that worked. =)Cheers!
~Travis W.
flexy - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
this looks sooooooooooooooo much like my f****g work - except that the items at newegg are approx. 10000000 times more interesting than what we deal with every day ;)bbomb - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
I worked on an aembly line putting together boxes for vent hoods to go in. That was the longest fucking week of my life. I wonder why the vent hood people didnt have the box-putter-together machine.PandaBear - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
The last company I worked for used to be part of Mitsubishi, and you would be surprised how much cheaper our shipping was compare to you going to Kinko's yourself, it was almost 1/2 off.I would imagine Newegg got a deal with UPS that makes it much cheaper than FedEx Ground.
Reflex - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
Been a customer of theirs for years, pretty much since Egghead went under(remember them?). Service has always been great and they are the first place I reccomend to techs and resellers. Sure beats the old days of having to have a tax ID and account with a distributer.Powermoloch - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
Thanks for the article Anand...really appreciate it. I didn't expect the warehouse to look like that !cw42 - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
pics coulda been better, but AWESOME ARTICLE.Thanks newegg.
bob661 - Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - link
Pics looked good to me.StevenYoo - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
nice read.man, part of me really wants to win that CPU!
but the other part of me doesn't so I don't have to buy a new mobo, etc.
NeonAura - Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - link
Contest for AMD X2s.. excellent :)And, there shouldn't be many entries outside of Anandtech, because the contest entry isn't open for a long time and because the link's broken. Noobs won't get it :)