Photos: A day in the life of an Amazon.co.uk order

11:00am The barcode is scanned and the address label printed and stamped onto the package as it travels along a conveyor belt. At this stage the package is also weighed. If it is lighter or heavier than the item or items on the order, the system automatically queries the contents and the parcel is rejected.

The system is so sensitive it will be able to tell the difference between a parcel which contains four CDs when it should contain five or the difference between a hardback and a paperback version of the same book.

The fast-moving conveyor belts then whip the packages away for posting out to all corners of the UK.