The run up to Christmas has officially begun with thousands of households surfing the internet to find those perfect gifts. To see how Amazon purchases get to people's front doors, a Derbyshire Live reporter took a guided tour of Derby's EMA1 (East Midlands Airport 1) Amazon fulfilment centre.
The warehouse is the size of 18 football pitches, and located on Wilders Way just off the M1. There are thousands of employees at the site, who work 10-hour shifts for four days, with a three-day break in between.
Amazon says that most products come from small to medium sized businesses, and are delivered to the Derby site from two receive centres in Coventry and Doncaster, which serve the whole country. The items are then sorted, packaged and sent on their way to customer's houses and businesses in HGVs.
Read more: Cost of living crisis making Nottingham residents "more mindful" over Christmas shopping
Celia Syme, general manager of the site, said: "I’ve been at Amazon for three years and occasionally things go wrong, but generally the process works really well. The building is made up of this floor and two other floors - the second and third floors are exactly the same.
"There is office space downstairs, as well as a canteen and games room. The products come in on this floor and all come out of this floor."
She continued: "Packaging takes place on the second floor and associates take items out once they're delivered - we call this 'picking' - on the third floor. Two floors are robotics floors, with several thousand pods coming to employees, saving much time and effort.
"At other warehouses, employees have to walk to pack - here they stay in one place."
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