[rescue] Happy New Year! RIP, Sun/Solaris...

[nate at portents.com]

On Fri, 7 Jan 2011 09:12:05 -0600, Bill Bradford <mrbill at mrbill.net>
wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 07, 2011 at 07:19:41AM +0200, gsm at mendelson.com wrote:
>> WTF is newegg? A produce shop? A farmers market?
> 
> One of the largest online retailers of computer stuff.
> 
> http://www.newegg.com

I buy a lot of stuff from them both for work and personally... good
service, and generally speaking, very good prices.  What makes them
exceptional in the US is the way they've created two major warehouses on
each coast (one in CA, on in NJ) and have a very efficient packing and
shipping system where they've actually integrated UPS ship centers into
their warehouses, along with a rather unusual 3-day UPS ground shipping
option that is often the free shipping option on a lot of their inventory. 
This means that even though I am in MA, 323 or so miles (520 km) away from
NJ, if I place an order before 12 noon west coast time (3pm eastern) I
often get the items delivered to me next day for free if the are coming
from the NJ warehouse (not uncommon, and I actually get told in the final
phase of checkout if I'll be getting them in one day or not).

There were a couple of articles that Anandtech did (though they are
somewhat fluffy pieces) on Newegg's warehouses in 2006 and 2008:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/1945

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2531

Newegg was founded in 2001, originally as a subsidiary of ABS Computer
Technologies, a system builder that operated in Whittier, California since
1991.  Newegg is now a much bigger operation than ABS, so in 2005 ABS
became a subsidiary of Newegg.

What I find curious about Newegg is where it (and other companies) operate
from - City of Industry, CA:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Industry,_California

I imagine that the foreign trade zone, "an area physically located within
the United States, but deemed to be outside the U.S. Customs territory",
somehow helps Newegg:

http://www.cityofindustry.org/page.php?14

- Nate