December 6, 2025, 3:13 pm | Read time: 3 minutes

We order a product from Amazon. Just one day later, the delivery person rings the doorbell and delivers the package. But what happens in between? Who receives the order, and where exactly are the goods located? How can Amazon deliver so quickly and with so many products? What path does an ordered item take in the Amazon logistics center before it ends up in the delivery vehicle? To answer these questions, Andreas Filbig went to Brandenburg for TECHBOOK, into a world full of logistics, coordination, and time pressure.

See what it looks like there in the video:

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How Amazon Logistics Works in Germany

The backbone of Amazon’s shipping structure consists of 23 logistics centers (as of January 2025) spread across Germany. Each center delivers products within its own area or sends missing products to another center. All kinds of items are stored in the logistics centers. This allows delivery times to be centrally managed locally. In addition to the logistics centers, there are smaller distribution centers that operate similarly.

Amazon’s logistics centers vary in size but are otherwise organized in the same way. For the Berlin area, most packages come from Brieselang in Brandenburg or the logistics center of the same name. You can see the order’s journey in the video above!

What Are the Working Conditions in the Amazon Logistics Center?

The processes in the Brieselang logistics center are typically well-coordinated, and every employee seems to know exactly what to do. The individual stations are interconnected like gears to ensure packages are loaded onto trucks on time. Apart from conveyor belts, there are no robotic arms that automatically pack and load. Humans are involved in almost every step, from delivery to sorting and finally packing.

Amazon frequently makes negative headlines in Germany. The company is accused of not paying adequate wages. As a result, employees from various logistics centers repeatedly go on strike.

It was difficult for me to gauge the workload of a workday. We were told on-site that there are no numerical targets. Process Engineer Fabian Richter only admits that employees whose performance is below average are supported in increasing their workload.

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Allegations of Systematic Surveillance

After our visit, investigations by NDR and ARD painted a very different picture of the daily work life at Amazon logistics centers. An anonymous foreman from one of the centers reports systematic surveillance of employees. He supports his claims with documents provided to journalists by Greenpeace. A former works council member from the Winsen (Luhe) location also confirmed these practices.

According to these reports, workdays are tracked electronically to the minute. Whether this is legal has already been examined in a review process by the data protection authority in Lower Saxony.

Also interesting: Not just online retail! How Amazon really makes its money

We Would Have Liked to See Returns, Too

During our visit to the Amazon logistics center in Brieselang, we would have liked to see what happens with returns. After all, there are frequent claims that Amazon sometimes simply destroys them. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find this out in Brieselang, as no returns are processed there.