So… many… toys. These pix showcase the perfectly organized chaos of Amazon UK’s distribution, or, “fulfillment” center, as they like to call it.

(Photo: INS)

From The Daily Mail:

…out in the real world, you or I might decide we want to send the AA Golf Course Guide 2008 and a Philips kettle to someone in Timbuktu. We type our order on our keyboard and – ping! – it is instantly digested by the omniscient computer which redirects our command to the nearest ‘ associate’ on picking duty….

Each ‘picker’ is allocated precisely enough orders to fill a trolley and the gun even calculates the fastest route between products. It’s like shopping with sat nav.

So our kettle and book end up in an orange crate which is automatically propelled to somewhere called ‘binning’. ‘Binners’ then separate orders and push them to ‘shippers’, who pack them. The computer even tells them which one of 15 differently-shaped pieces of cardboard to wrap them in for the optimum fit.

Santa’s not so little helper: Today’s the busiest online shopping day of the year. So are they ready at the biggest grotto this side of Lapland? [The Daily Mail]
RELATED: Pics from inside Amazon’s Nevada facility [BusinessWeek]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.