I was walking by the Manhattan UPS sort center and all the doors were open so I went inside. After being kicked out for trespassing a guy named Edwin was kind enough to explain to me how this work is done.pic.twitter.com/d104fZlnv7
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It's mostly manual! Basically, trucks full of packages show up and the drivers dump the boxes onto conveyor belts. Then, all night, humans use scanners to scan the label. The scanner tells them which trailer to put the boxes in, i.e. one truck for boxes going to Georgis another
Going to California. Unbelievably, if the truck they need to put the box in is on the other side of the building the labor has to manually carry it over or use a dolly! I asked why they hadn't automated this. He said "budgets" and I asked if it was because labor was union.
Drivers are union, labor is not. He said they have fully automated facilities but I guess this one is not (maybe because they can't find another location in Manhattan?). Wild!
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