Busybees in the big Netflix warehouse
News & Record in Greensboro, North Carolina, has an article on a low-profile Netflix warehouse in North Carolina:
Every morning, a truck backs up to an anonymous office building off Gallimore Dairy Road carrying the lifeblood of Netflix.com.
Inside the truck are about 35,000 DVDs, all the titles sent to the company that day by its North Carolina members.
Here in this nondescript office park — the company posts no signs on its leased building and asks its address not be divulged — is the brick and mortar of one of the Internet’s hottest spots for movie rentals. Here, the work gets done after subscribers choose their movies on the Web site that has created a new way to rent DVDs and attracted 4.2 million subscribers nationwide.
The local hub, essentially a high-tech mailing operation, has nothing but Netflix banners and movie posters adorning the walls of the open workroom inside.
During the workday, 25 workers rip open all the red mailers that come in, catalog them and dispatch a new batch in red envelopes.
In between, they use a mix of secret software, simple hand work and split-second timing to keep the DVDs circulating and provide the quick turnaround that Netflix customers have grown accustomed to.
…
The workers here use a mix of basic skills and computer training to keep the process moving. Netflix workers in Greensboro come from all kinds of careers, from the Postal Service to teaching. They all get benefits, Swasey said. He declined to say what their pay range is but said that after a three-month probation, every worker gets a free DVD player and is encouraged to take movies home to watch.
The Netflix building is unmarked for security and competitive reasons, Swasey said, but “mainly, we don’t want customers stopping by to drop off their DVDs.”