I don’t know if lightning will strike twice, but I figured I’d give it a shot.
The title for this post is a play on my most popular blog post of all time: And the World’s Largest Tire Manufacturer Is… Drumroll Please…
That post was written in June 2018, and for each of the years 2018, 2019, and 2020 it had the most total views of any of my posts, averaging nearly 80 views per day in 2019 and 2020. There was one day in 2020 when it had over 10,000 views (someone mentioned it on Reddit).
So let’s see what happens with today’s post.
If someone were to ask you what is the world’s busiest airport (after dark), how would you answer? (Hint, it’s not a LEGO airport).
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport? No…
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport? No…
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport? No…
Those airports are, respectively, the second busiest, the busiest, and the fourth busiest airports in terms of passengers flown, but that is not what the question is asking.
The key part of the question is “after dark”.
When you add that qualifier, the answer is the airport in Memphis, Tennessee.
Why Memphis?
That is where FedEx has its Global Hub.
After packages are unloaded from inbound flights, the packages pass through one of nine input areas, and then to the “Matrix,” where a front line of employees make sure the packages aren’t face down on a conveyor belt (since bar-code scanners here can read every side of a box except the underside).
After the Matrix, the packages head further into the facility on conveyor belts, passing first through a scanner that reads their bar codes. Based on the information on those labels, they’re then automatically pushed onto one of 19 diverters. After that, they go to a secondary sorting section and then finally to “Outbound,” where they’ll be loaded into new containers and onto the next planes.
Here are some facts about FedEx operation:
- The Memphis hub covers about 880 acres
- It has about 3.7 million square feet of facilities under roof.
- It’s served by about 240 flights a day and can handle up to 475,000 shipments an hour.
- 7,000 FedEx employees work at the site
- on average, 1.5 million packages a night pass through the facility, 365 days a year. During the Christmas rush, that number can exceed two million.
- in one building, crews process between 740,000 and 860,000 small packages — mostly documents — a night, with an accuracy rate of 99.97 percent.
The best way to fully grasp the operation is to see it in action. Here is a five-minute clip that ABC News did a few years ago on the FedEx Superhub. I think it is well done, and I have been showing it to my students every year since it came out. After watching the video, I suggest to my students that perhaps they will have a little more empathy for these delivery companies and their employees, and if their package is a day or two late, it’s still an amazing feat of coordination…
Sources:
*image from 4ever.eu
Well that is impressive!
GL to thia post being as important as the tire one! Maybe Fed Ex will contact you and give you a Christmas discount on packages.
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it’s probably too late to send a package to get there by CHristmas 🙂
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LOL!
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Wow a logistics miracle. Some very intelligent people had to design that system.
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it is facinating to watch…
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One well-placed tornado on that 880-acre facility and it could be a national catastrophe.
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that would be a disaster…
or letting a government bureaucrat run the operation would have the same effect…
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Although the government would claim it was a big success.
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of course…
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Where do they keep all of the kidnapped UPS employees?
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Under Package Sorter…
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They send them to the freezing North Pole to help the elves and to take care of the reindeer.
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Wearing those little brown shorts? That’s mean.
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😂
I wasn’t thinking about their little brown shorts. LOL!
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seems quite insensitive… 🙂
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Oh gosh! 😛
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I may have some suppressed agression about UPS men. 😂
My Ex-brother in law is a UPS driver.
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it’s just downright cold…
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Perhaps I have something against UPS men, being that my ex-brother in law is a UPS driver. LOL!
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I could see that affecting your opinion of UPS!
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I could let it make me think badly of UPS but I know better, I just couldn’t resist. 🙂
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I know the feeling 🙂
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I’m sure they deliver to the North Pole…
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Could they just leave my BIL at the North Pole? But thaf would be bad for the poor elves!
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Maybe send your BIL to the South Pole…
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LOL! I should be nice but he has just caused everyone so much emotional stress as we wait for court to be finalized. He is a Narcissist, need I say more!
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Some people are hard to like….
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Yup! And if I don’t like you , its pretty bad! But you don’t have to worry. 🙂
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I’ glad I’m on your good side…
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LOL!
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Well, I hope I don’t need to mail any Christmas presents this year. It’ll be crazy.
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you may want to mail them soon…
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So far I only ordered from Amazon to deliver to people directly…
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and this year people are suggesting that if you want such delievries to arrive before Christmas, you may want to consider sending ordering those goods from Amazon earlier than usual…
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Gosh, to be a worker in that sorting facility, especially during peak season… that’ll be one hell of an experience.
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I wonder if you dream about packages when you go to sleep…
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I’m one of the biggest defenders of the postal service, UPS, FEd-Ex, and all the other carriers of goods. I think it’s pretty remarkable how quickly we get most of the things we need at a reasonable cost. (Not too many things go for a reasonable cost these days.)
As a guy who likes data, I am also curious why you had so many views on that one specific day. It had to be more than the Reddit mention. Any theories? If I get more than 100 views that’s a busy day for me. 10,000? Stunning, Jim!
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I am also amazed at how mail and packages get to us so quickly, when you consider all that is involved.
as to the number of views, I have no idea what that particular post would be so popular. So far. lightning has not struck twice with this post about FedEx…
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It would be fun to experiment with another hit on Reddit.
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hopefully somebody randomly decides to mention my post on Reddit, and I’ll be a two-hit wonder… 🙂
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I wonder if this will change when commercial flights resume their normal levels?
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I think the Memphis airport has had this distinction for many years, well before the pandemic…
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Another great in-depth look at something most of us are unaware of. Hopefully, this will generate some new found appreciation for all the people involved in connecting our world.
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thanks, Brad. and hoepfully it will create some views like the tire post 🙂
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Oh wow, that’s amazing, Jim. It’s a wonder anything ever reaches the right destination intact. I’m impressed that most do.
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it is quite impressive that somehow it all works, or at least the vast majority of time…
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It definitely is.
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I feel a bit upset that nobody has ever sent me a pie for Xmas, so perhaps Jim you could help that airport keep its record by sending a pie to each of your followers.
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🥧 here you go… 🙂
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that is stunning and amazing, and that pile of packages could be made into a game show – who can find the proper package first!
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it is mind boggling. I find it fascinating; hopefully my students did as well… 🙂
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I’m still waiting for my halloween leggings, I think I see them in the pile
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good thing you ordered them early! 🙂
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I figured it would be related to a shipping company. My dad retired from UPS. The stories he can tell! People in that industry get nothing but sympathy from me.
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I’ve always thought a job at UPS would be fascinating…
and yes, I’ve always been impressed with the people who work in the delivery industry…
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“Fascinating” is one way to put it. 😀
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I am sure stressful as well at times…
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Impressive! It reminds me of the days I worked in marketing and we were creating a fulfilment centre. We had a consultant on the project who we called ‘Jumbo,’ on account of his often-asked question ‘what would you do if a jumbo jet landed on it?’
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That’s hilarious!
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Jumbo sounds like he added a lot of value as a consultant to the project.. 🙂
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He surely did 😊
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How do you think of these topic ideas!? It’s so random yet fascinating. I would never ever guess Memphis as having this massive nighttime operation. The sheer amount of boxes in that video…. my gosh. 😳
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thank heaven that the Wall Street Journal often has stories I find fascinating!
and that sorting facility is an impressive sight…
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I believe it. I lived about 5 miles from FedEx second largest operation in Indianapolis. If I was awake at 3 or 4 a.m. I could usually hear planes landing and taking off. Cargo aircraft have less stringent noise restrictions and there is not as much noise generally at that time. Incidentally, Anchorage Alaska had for a time at the beginning of the pandemic the busiest airports on land and sea.
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I had also read about how busy the Indianapolis operation is; that’s a shame about the noise pollution. That is an interesting fun fact about Anchorage!
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Wow that is one operation and the pie arrived in one piece ..Fascinating 🙂 x
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I find it fascinating as well; thanks, Carol!
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Wow! The video is amazing. FedEx has applied military precision and discipline to this nightly operation in Memphis.
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it is amazing to see this in action; I gained a new appreciation for the package delivery industry…
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Ah ha! What an operational system FedEx has.
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it is an amazing operation they’ve got going. gives me new respect for what they do…
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This interesting. So much product being shipped by air..maybe Santa 🎅 might send his kids gifts my air.
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he might need to this year! 🙂
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