When it’s wrapped in plastic it can be individually picked. In a warehouse large quantities of stuff is stored away in bulk, sometimes palletized. A picker goes around and picks out the items from the larger bulk of items to put together a shipping order. If they were individually wrapped, whether by the warehouse or their distributor, it is for general protection(so that it feels new) and ease of handling.
Source: worked many of the lower positions at different warehouses for some years.
FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
They are shipped on shrink wrapped pallets in boxes. The thing is, your local Walmart/target/airport shop doesn’t need 1500 copies of the latest Patterson novel, they stock a few of each current book in store. Meaning that pallet gets opened up at a hub warehouse and 2-3 books are going to 2-300 different stores along with whatever else has been purchased that week to restock the shelf. That book passes though a lot of hands before you buy it at the register