Resolved So how is this holding thing working?

[bobsentell]

If the iPads are locked in a truck, how are they applying the shipping labels? Is there one guy who is given a stack of shipping labels and he alone has access to the trailer to apply them or is Apple just going off an inventory sheet and it will be FedEx's job to apply the shipping labels to all of the boxes as they unload the truck?

I'm just asking from a logistical standpoint.

 

[ct2k7]

Or the labels could be applied on packaging at the factory.

 

[OneMike]

Or the labels could be applied on packaging at the factory.

my bet

 

[boy-better-know]

Oh yeah, like they would leave something as important as that up to a lorry driver. Its obviously done before they leave apple. Like everybusiness in the world would do.

 

[RobesNo1]

lol This is a pretty desperate thread!

To put my 2 pence in..... I already know the Serial number of the iPad 3 I'm going to receive so I'm fairly certain they're allocated by the time they leave Apple.

 

[bobsentell]

Or the labels could be applied on packaging at the factory.

That still doesn't explain how they are doing it. All of Apple's factories are overseas and yet we have shipping labels as early as friday being located in Nashville. How are they getting to these hubs? They obviously are not putting the labels on at the factory as the inventory they are using was already over here. Unless Apple is overnighting them from China to Nashville as they come off the line.

lol This is a pretty desperate thread!

What? I'm asking from a logistical standpoint. I'm not inferring anything.

 

[ct2k7]

That still doesn't explain how they are doing it. All of Apple's factories are overseas and yet we have shipping labels as early as friday being located in Nashville. How are they getting to these hubs? They obviously are not putting the labels on at the factory as the inventory they are using was already over here.



What? I'm asking from a logistical standpoint. I'm not inferring anything.

Maybe package assembly happens locally?

 

[boy-better-know]

That still doesn't explain how they are doing it. All of Apple's factories are overseas and yet we have shipping labels as early as friday being located in Nashville. How are they getting to these hubs? They obviously are not putting the labels on at the factory as the inventory they are using was already over here.

they were with apples local warhouses until friday/sat when we got our shipped emails. It will have been done then.
The ipads will have been in the us/uk since last month while they have been stock piling

 

[RobesNo1]

they were with apples local warhouses until friday/sat when we got our shipped emails. It will have been done then.
The ipads will have been in the us/uk since last month while they have been stock piling

This.

 

[bobsentell]

they were with apples local warhouses until friday/sat when we got our shipped emails. It will have been done then.
The ipads will have been in the us/uk since last month while they have been stock piling

Okay. I was unaware Apple had local warehouses. I'm not an Apple insider so I didn't know how their inventory control worked. I always assumed their inventory came straight from Foxconn to the Apple store.

 

[Capt T]

Best guess would be that, Apple rented out some warehouses in the cities with the hubs. Then once we put in our orders, people who were working for them there put shipping labels on them, once it cleared. Then loaded up a trailer for FedEx (or whichever carrier) and they are now awaiting the next step in processing at the hub.

But that is only a guess.

 

[poloponies]

Best guess would be that, Apple rented out some warehouses in the cities with the hubs. Then once we put in our orders, people who were working for them there put shipping labels on them, once it cleared. Then loaded up a trailer for FedEx (or whichever carrier) and they are now awaiting the next step in processing at the hub.

But that is only a guess.

It's a more than reasonable guess. Shipping is not rocket science. Apple has clearly been building inventories in anticipation of the launch.

 

[Lastof]

Best guess would be that, Apple rented out some warehouses in the cities with the hubs. Then once we put in our orders, people who were working for them there put shipping labels on them, once it cleared. Then loaded up a trailer for FedEx (or whichever carrier) and they are now awaiting the next step in processing at the hub.

But that is only a guess.

More likely that whoever Apple contracts to run their Logistics was holding them. In the UK it seems to be Syncreon, not sure who it is in the US, but I think I remember someone posting a name a day or two ago. They will be the ones who boxed and labeled the orders, and are ensuring they don't get handed to the carriers till Apple wants them to be. They presumably would already have all the storage, etc, necessary to manage this.