How does Amazon determine which fulfillment centers ship to your area?

[Pink Jazz]

I was wondering, there seems to be some interesting pattern on which Amazon fulfillment centers ship to my area.

Most of my shipments that are within the distance that can meet the two-day guarantee by ground ship either from the local fulfillment centers in the Phoenix area or from those in the Inland Empire in California, with occasional shipments from Northern California, or parts of Texas (primarily Fort Worth or San Marcos). These typically use Amazon's linehaul network from the fulfillment center to the Sortation Center in Phoenix, with the last mile delivered either by Amazon Logistics or the U.S. Postal Service. Three fulfillment centers (two in Phoenix and Moreno Valley, California) bypass the Sortation Center and go straight to the Delivery Station in Chandler if shipped via Amazon Logistics.

For the rare shipments that ship from atypical fulfillment centers that are within ground range, these usually ship via UPS Ground or OnTrac. My guess is that these fulfillment centers lack ground linehaul connections to the Phoenix Sortation Center. I have gotten once from San Diego and twice from Reno.

For air shipments, these usually go via Amazon Air and get delivered the last mile either by Amazon Logistics or the U.S. Postal Service. Sometimes during high-demand times (such as Prime Day or the holiday season) they may ship via UPS 2nd Day Air (or Next Day Air if it ships the day after the item is ordered). Occasionally if an item is backordered the item may be shipped overnight via UPS Next Day Air once it becomes available again.

It is interesting how Amazon assigns the ground linehaul routes to the Sortation Center in my area. For example, Amazon has fulfillment centers in the Las Vegas area, but I never seem to get any packages from there, which leads me to assume that those fulfillment centers are not linked to the Sortation Center in Phoenix via Amazon's ground linehaul network. I have read somewhere that the Las Vegas area fulfillment centers send a lot of packages to Southern California, and maybe due to capacity constraints they can't handle the demand to Phoenix due to the demand to Southern California (plus the Las Vegas area itself).

It would be interesting to hear which fulfillment centers Amazon packages come from for you. If you are unsure from the Amazon Logistics tracking, it is indicated on the upper right of the label (most of mine have a code that starts with PHX, ONT, or SNA, the former being the local fulfillment centers and the latter two being the Inland Empire).

Please note that the return address on the shipping label is not the address that the package shipped out of; it is the assigned return center for the package.

 

[BoomerD]

I suspect items are shipped from the closest distribution center than has your items in stock...but as long as you get them delivered timely...does it really matter?

 

[Pink Jazz]

I suspect items are shipped from the closest distribution center than has your items in stock...but as long as you get them delivered timely...does it really matter?

I don't think geographic location is the only factor, since I live in the Phoenix area yet I never get any packages from the Las Vegas area fulfillment centers since I presume they aren't connected by a ground linehaul route to the Phoenix Sortation Center. Other than the local fulfillment centers and the Inland Empire, other areas that appear to be connected by a ground linehaul route to the Phoenix Sortation Center are some fulfillment centers in Northern California (so far I have seen Tracy and Sacramento) and some in Texas (I have so far seen Fort Worth and San Marcos). Any fulfillment center that isn't connected but within ground range must ship via UPS Ground, FedEx Ground/Home Delivery, or OnTrac, which is more expensive than using the linehaul network and having Amazon Logistics or the USPS deliver the last mile (although I have never gotten FedEx Ground/Home Delivery at all for Amazon-fulfilled orders).

 

[deadlyapp]

It's really not even worth my time to analyze or care about this.

 

[MrSquished]

all i know is they do a really fucking good job of it

 

[JEDIYoda]

flip a coin

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I live in one of Atlanta's suburbs but I seldom get Amazon stock from any of their Georgia distribution warehouses.

 

[Pink Jazz]

I live in one of Atlanta's suburbs but I seldom get Amazon stock from any of their Georgia distribution warehouses.

Interestingly there was a period last year (Spring through early Summer) that I got more packages out of the Inland Empire than I did from the local fulfillment centers, even when the local fulfillment centers had my items in stock. The exception was mainly when I was able to qualify for the Free One-Day Shipping over $35 which they always ship from the local fulfillment centers.

 

[madoka]

flip a coin

I think it's pretty much this. My Amazon order page is showing 200 orders in the past six months and I frequently order the same item separately within seconds of each other over and over again. What I found is that they'll be shipped at different times from different locations and they will be delivered on different days.

 

[madoka]

The experiment I always like to try with Amazon shipping is this:

1. order a bunch of items with the slow shipping to get the $1 media credit

2. order one item via the regular 2 day prime shipping

And then check to see if all the slow items get shipped with the prime item. In theory, I would think that this should trigger one large package with both slow and prime items in it. But it hasn't always worked out.