MY FLIPTERNSHIP

A chronicle of my summer interning at Flipkart in Bangalore.

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We have lift off. Drone camera at the new Flipkart office

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The morning commute.

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Bubbles: What's happening in this picture?

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Getting a Little Bit Lost

Most days, I follow a similar routine. I get up, I get ready, and I try to take the shuttle to work. Some days, like today, I miss the shuttle and take a rickshaw or an Uber to the office. Just as I was thinking that I was going to be early to the office, my Uber driver took an unexpected left turn. Now that I have been in India for almost two months, I knew that this was not the usual route. I informed the driver that we should have kept going straight, but he said that the GPS would get us to our destination. We drove through a bustling city street. A line formed outside of a shop window where one could make bill payments. We passed a colourful Saree shop. Then we turned on a dirt road. After only 20 meters on the treacherous terrain, the driver turned around and continued on another route. I saw a new part of the city, filled with new sights and sounds.

When I go home, I want to remind myself to break my routine every once in a while and try to get a little bit lost.   

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Prime Day = Dud

Yesterday was Amazon’s Prime Day. I was looking forward to what the company was calling a sale event “bigger than Black Friday” - but the sale was a dud. Usually, I am quite impressed with Amazon’s ability to recommend products for me. But, the discounts offered on Prime Day held little to know appeal. At first, I thought that Amazon was holding back on blockbuster bargains because I am in India. I justified the random, untargeted selection by saying “Maybe Amazon is showing me deals available in a local fulfillment center.” That might have explained it... But I wrote to friends in New York City to see what deals they were offered, and they saw the same content.   

Here is one of the deals that was so poorly targeted it made me chuckle. 

Photo credit: Gizmodo.

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My view from the back of the bike. Out and about with Majunatha, my delivery guide. 

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Out for delivery

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Signed, Sealed, Delivered

I grasped Manjunatha's bony shoulders. He eased me into the ride. We took some back roads and he drove cautiously, especially as he navigated speed bumps. After a few twist and turns, we were out on a main road. I prefer travel on two wheels to the other modes of transportation in Bangalore. But, I was glad I wasn’t the one manoeuvring through traffic as we crossed Outer Ring Road.

We cruised to his delivery area - Koramangala. At our first stop, I was timid. I hung back and didn’t say anything to the customer. At our second drop off, I spoke up, but only a little. The customer’s attire - boxer shorts and a novelty T-shirt - put me more at ease. With each new delivery, I felt more and more comfortable chatting with the customers.

Manjunatha’s ‘runlist’ was so perfectly organized that after delivering a lightbulb to a neighborhood pharmacist, we simply crossed the street to arrive at our next drop off destination. On foot. This was convenient for me, because I have not perfected the art of the motorcycle dismount.

I asked the next customer if she shopped online often. She said, “all the time” and then showed us her ‘haul,’ opening the front door and revealing a pile of boxes from online retailers on the dining room table. Our last parcel was Cash On Delivery. When the customer didn’t have exact change, Manjunatha ran to a nearby store to break a bill. I waited with the customer and answered her questions about my internship and background. When I told her that I stayed nearby in Koramangala, she invited me to her upcoming store opening.

She jotted down my contact details and sent me a text. Meeting new neighbors on the other side of the world.

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Grooming Standards, Packing 

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Brown Paper Packages Tied up with Strings

Just after 6:30AM the streets of Bangalore were quite still. But inside the eKart delivery hub, the workday had already started. Men stood at various stations around the room unloading and sorting boxes of all shapes and sizes. My colleague and I enjoyed guessing what was in each ("A crib?" I said pointing to the biggest rectangular box we could see. No, a TV. “A yoga mat,” she ventured. It was a poster.)  

As more and more items were unloaded, a pile of empty white eKart bags sprouted up in an empty area at the front of the room. As the employees, sorted, scanned, and sorted again, we looked around the room. The walls were adorned with information about best practices (know your banknotes) and new processes (BYOD). A poster outlined eKart’s grooming standards.

Once the packages were arranged according to plan, they were packed into jumbo eKart backpacks. I stood watching two gentleman stuff a bag to its brim. Unaware of each packer’s attention to detail, I wondered how the deliveryman would find a package at the bottom of the sack. But, lots of thought goes into packing these bags. Each item is packed in reverse order. Meaning that the shipment for the first delivery spot will be conveniently located on the top of the bag’s pile.

When the bags were packed, we gathered around for announcements and an appreciation session. Prasanna, the office supervisor, congratulated delivery men who had gone above and beyond to get packages to their customers. He praised individuals who had made over 90 deliveries in their last shift. As the announcements concluded, the team chanted in unison, the eKart cheer. 

After the meeting, Prasanna said  “when I keep my employees happy, they keep the customers happy.”

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Can Uber Deliver?

Just the other day, I was thinking that Uber and Ola could be used for last mile delivery in India. Apparently, I wasn’t the first person to think about an Uber-powered delivery service. According to The Wall Street Journal, it looks like it may take a while for Uber to crack the code on deliveries.

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Hindi Lessons

On Saturday, my colleague Shubham started to teach me some Hindi phrases. 

Here’s the first expression I learned: 

“Meera naam Victoria hai.”

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Have you ever seen so much bubble wrap? 

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Supply Chain Academy

Yesterday, I went to the Whitefield Fulfilment Center to learn about what goes on behind the scenes when an order is placed on Flipkart.

My guide, Meena, explained the inbound and outbound logistics that go on behind the scenes. There are between 300 and 400 processes involved with getting inventory from the receiving docks and out the door when a customer places an order. As we toured the floor of the Fulfillment Center, a flowchart came to life before our eyes as we watched the pickers and packers in action.

In a special climate controlled room for Health and Beauty products, we cooled off and watched three pickers do their thing. Equipped with handheld devices, the nimble-fingered pickers went down their pick list and plucked out bottles of nail polish and lipsticks from their storage bins. They checked the details of each item before placing it into their baskets and moving onto the next item on their list. When our tour group was asked to find an item on the pick list, we fumbled through the wrong bins. Once we had located the right bin, we struggled to find the right product. While we stood their clumsily trying to find just one product, the professional pickers darted around the room collecting several items on their pick lists.

After touring the rows and racks of inventory, we made our way to the packers who skilfully prepared boxes for delivery. We learned that during Big Billion Day sale, one worker managed to churn through 600 boxes in one hour. At the At one of the the dispatch stations, I peaked at one of the boxes that was about to go out for delivery, the address label contained the directions “near cricket stadium." Only in India.

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wishes

“Flipkart. Ab har wish hogi poori” 

Translation: Now, every wish will come true.

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The view on my first day in Bangalore. At KR Market.