Amazon has almost 100 warehouses all over the world for storing and packing their merchandise that hasn’t been sold yet, but in recent months, the company has opened some new facilities. They’re a different kind of warehouse, called sortation centers. Yes, “sortation” is a word. Truckloads of packages that are boxed up and ready to ship come in, and pallets full of packages already sorted by zip code come out.

The Seattle Times reports that Amazon plans to open fifteen sortation centers across the country by the end of 2014. The initiative exists for two reasons: first, the rollout of Sunday delivery in partnership with the U.S. Postal Service means that Amazon will do more pre-sorting of their packages in those markets. “When you see us announcing Sunday delivery, you can assume a sortation center is close by,” an Amazon representative explained.

The second reason involves the nationwide shipping fiasco that occurred this past holiday season. A confluence of events meant that Amazon and other online retailers missed Christmas deadlines for many items, making customers sad. This may have turned some consumers against online shopping, and also meant that Amazon had to send out $20 apology gift cards to many customers. Amazon’s goal is to prevent further fiascos by controlling more of the logistics that move a package from their warehouse to your front door.

Amazon launches Sunday delivery from Kent warehouse [Seattle Times]

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