Made an order for 3 bubble teas + 1 vacuum from Amazon. Somehow they came all in 1 tall box...

I thought they'd be in 2 packages since they were in different departments but I'm wondering what the layout of Amazon warehouses are and who/what decides that all these things can fit in one box...

AFAIK Amazon warehouses use chaotic warehousing.
Everything gets put into whichever space is free.
There is no actual layout to separate different departments.

Hm, Amazon itself utilises chaotic storage.

A product is registered by it's dimensions.

A fitting shelf is assigned. As such, chaotic. There is no "logic"…

It doesn't matter what the product is... The shelves are not categorized.

Where it fits, it sits. :)

The packaging is a rather delicate matter.

1) dimensions and weight
2) parcel service (UPS/DPAG/..., where most of the parcel services have specific requirements. That's the primary reason amazon became a parcel service.)
3) available package size (cannot remember definitely, but I'm pretty sure that they divide the packaging process by size - as such, not every picker might have the same package sizes available. Packaging of larger products requires more time.)
4) law requirements
Eg. you'll need for haz mats like batteries specific packaging like blister packs, or a specific size as otherwise you cannot fit the ton of necessary warning notices....

That's a rather incomplete and not fully accurate list of things... But it should give an idea of how complex it is.

@IntrusionCM hmm... So in theory the bubble teas couldve been placed next to rat poison....

That's a scary thought lol...

@billgates
That, my dude, is why they invented "food safe packaging" ☺️

Awesome, sounds fun.

By the quotes I guess you mean the idea was only @SortOfTested before being widely adopted :)

Hm, most meal moths larvae can eat through plastic.

Nature adapted to food safe packaging... XD

It will b
Most likely be handled in an order-to-order basis for the most part.

Most warehousing systems work that way, they get a list of materials that represent an order, though they don't need to see the order, just the list and courier details.

@billgates Uderrated comment.