[SEL] Thread question

[Tony & Jackie]

At 12:22 PM 1/7/2009, you wrote:
>Some day I NEED to visit one of their warehouses.  Just to see how 
>they work.  They
>REALLY are run right.
>
>The other thing about how they've "raised the bar" in terms of 
>customer expectations
>is that when some other less efficient outfit says cheerfully, "You 
>should receive
>that item in four to six weeks."  My reaction now is more along the 
>lines of "Fuck
>off.  Cancel this order."
>
>See ya,  Arnie

Their Chicago warehouse is amazing.  No sooner do they pull the 
freight off my truck, then it's being picked apart by 2-3 guys who 
sort it onto different pallets depending what it is, then it's picked 
up by one of a dozen forklift trucks that constantly circle the 
building putting things into stock.  All this happens in less than 10 
minutes.  They have probably 20-25 people doing this all across the 
loading dock.  There are separate groups of people for the mailing, 
shipping, will call departments, etc.  I have no idea how many 
employees they have, but if it's less than 1,500 I'd be 
surprised.  It's hard to walk across the dock without having to dodge 
forklifts and utility cars running all over the place.

The place is run like an army base... very strict protocol 
everywhere.  It's a pain in my ass sometimes, but it seems to be 
working well for them.