Ever Wonder What Happens to Your Gifts?

“Packages go to either Memphis, Newark, or Indianapolis and then they bleed off into smaller splits,” FedEx operations manager Ginny Martinez explained above the humming drone of the trucks and conveyor belt at FedEx’s 48th Street facility. “So we’re sorting into the cans, and they [the employees] know they go in that container because they all have Xs,” she said while showing me a label on an envelope she picked up from something reminiscent of an airport luggage conveyor belt.

Martinez, who started out as a FedEx courier, is preparing for the toughest and busiest time of the year—peak season. The holidays may bring plenty of cheer, but they also bring much larger quantities to deliver. Shipping services all over the nation are expecting a barrage of correspondence, packaged merchandise, and, of course, gifts to come flooding in over the next two weeks.

Nowhere does this influx of packages manifest itself better than in the sorting facilities themselves. It was only Dec. 5, and already the stream of corrugated cardboard boxes seemed endless. According to a FedEx press release, the company expects Dec. 17 to be its busiest night when it will process almost 11.3 million packages in one day, compared to just seven million on an average day.

“Walk between the balls,” said Martinez as we stepped onto a platform covered with elevated wheels allowing the “cans” to slide back and forth. The cans are large metal containers, the size and shape of a midsection of an average passenger plane used for transportation. “You cannot wear heels here,” she chuckled.

Although most packages arriving from the garage were nondescript, several stood out from the rest. One enormous box with just the word “MUSIC” scrawled on one side appeared and was followed several minutes later by two other boxes just as large but labeled “Lindt Swiss Chocolatier.” “They’re going international,” said Martinez, spotting the air bill on box flap.

Sorting and placing parcels into cans destined for Memphis, Tennessee, which Martinez called the FedEx “super hub,” and onto trucks bound for Newark, New Jersey, another one of FedEx’s main transportation centers, all took place on the bottom floor. Martinez pointed out that packages were processed vertically between the building’s separate floors instead of horizontally due to space constraints in Manhattan. Although this facility is one of the bigger ones in the city, it is only responsible for receiving and delivering packages from part of midtown Manhattan.

“Michael, come here,” shouted Martinez to a man in his 20s. “Embarrass him,” she told me. “Ask him a question.” Michael Downey, an employee of a couple of years, approached us smiling apprehensively. I asked him to describe his work experience.

“I have to answer this in front of my manager?” Downey joked. “It’s great. Peak season’s hard though. ... Can I get my picture taken?”

“You’re such a camera hog!” Martinez teased. “Look at this. What ... new pants?”
When asked about the company colors, Downey said without hesitation, “I think they’re a lot better than our competitors. I don’t want to wear brown, and I think yellow and red are pretty ugly.”

David Xia can be reached at david.xia@columbiaspectator.com.