Amazon bought a company called Kiva Systems that builds warehousing systems where robots bring the shelving units to the human packers. It's really neat: http:

Amazon bought a company called Kiva Systems that builds warehousing systems where robots bring the shelving units to the human packers. It's really neat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWsMdN7HMuA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWsMdN7HMuA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiva_Systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiva_Systems So essentially this system eliminates the up to 15 miles of walking that each worker does per day. Amazon paid $775m for Kiva, and the cost of fitting out each warehouse with the Kiva system can't be cheap... The cost to pay an army of people to walk 15 miles per day must add up real quick!