Photographer Geoff Robinson took a series of pictures at one of Amazon’s fulfillment centers in Peterborough Cambridgeshire on Nov. 25, and it looks like the warehouse is preparing for war. The facility is so large you can’t even see the end; there are so many boxes it’s even hard to see the humans among the TVs, picture frames and whatever else it is people have ordered over the past few days.
The holiday season is—duh—one of the busiest times of the year for shopping, but it’s still shocking to see how incredibly busy the factory is. It looks like its own city—with so many Black Friday deals taking place, it’s no wonder there is so much neatly stacked cardboard under one roof. The warehouse has been in overdrive as we close in on Christmas, which is less than a month away now; the staff has been working around the clock to ensure orders are fulfilled.
And if you think it looks busy now, things are expected to pick up when Cyber Monday kicks off next week. According to Amazon, more than 4 million items were ordered at a rate of around 47 items per second last year, eclipsing sales on Black Friday. I can only imagine the chaos of the warehouse when orders start flooding in. It must be like trying to swim in quicksand. It’s amazing that more items don’t get lost in the shuffle.
Just check out the pictures and witness the pure horror. Maybe the next time your package arrives later than promised you’ll understand why.