The days around Black Friday and those around Christmas are not only a source of income for Amazon but also a stress test for its distribution centers around the world. We went to the one in Cividate al Piano, in the province of Bergamo, to try to tell the story of Black Friday seen from inside a hub of the distribution giant. On the second floor, a high-level manager is picking like any other employee. He waits for a robotic shelving to arrive at his workstation, collects the item, scans it and places it in a black box ready to be shipped. “It is a consolidated tradition of Black Friday to help employees by managers”, says Stefano Perego, vice president of operations for Europe and North America. While working, Perego explains to us that this year’s low-cost Friday bestsellers are “toothbrushes, toilet paper and the FIFA football game”. “The most particular are sex toys”, reveals an employee training officer, who is also involved in picking. For the rest, calm reigns in the establishment. The noise of the conveyor belts drowns out everything else but there is no frenzy among the employees: “True, there is more to do but – says a packaging worker – it also takes more energy. Black Friday is special “. On our trip to Cividate we tell you how an Amazon package arrives at the front door starting from the daily work of a thousand people.
By Andrea Lattanzi