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Recently while exercising I caught part of a fascinating program on the Food Network. A hyper-energized host travels the world getting the inside scoop on how food items get packaged. In my short viewing I saw the packaging facilities for bubblegum-filled lollipops, champagne and my favorite, multi-colored popsicles. (Who knew a garishly colored rocket-shaped frozen snack on a stick was the product of such a formidable and sophisticated manufacturing process?)

So here’s another, “who knew?” story: I have been fascinated for years by the appearance of those reliable as rain emails from Netflix at 4am announcing that the disc I put in the mailbox the night before had been received and a new selection was on its way to my house. Yeah, they have some trade secrets they aren’t talking about, but much of the process is discussed in a piece in the Chicago Tribune. Visiting just one warehouse facility near Chicago (there are 58 nationwide), Trib reporter Christopher Borrelli found 42 people moving 60,000 discs every day, quietly and efficiently.

Netflix, like the makers of neon-colored ice sticks, has this thing DOWN.

(Photo: Michael Tercha)

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