Talk:Warehouse

Removal
Earlier today I removed the line that said


 * "Vacant warehouses were an often used location in the late 1980s and early to mid 1990's for illegal raves."

I got reverted quite harshly. Sorry if I offended anyone.

My reasons to remove the line:


 * 1) Vacant warehouses have been used for illegal activities of all sorts, as have vacant buildings of all types.  I don't see that this is a particularly notable aspect of warehouses in particular.
 * 2) The sentence seemed vague to me, and didn't come with a reference, which would have allowed the topic to be expanded.

I won't take it out again, since Alkivar seems quite determined to keep it in. --Dbenbenn 02:41, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I modified that line, because while it may be true, it serves no purpose to add that people party in abandoned warehouses. Are we next going to say "After dark, some parks are used for selling drugs or prostitution..."? I am going to have to side with the statement from Dbenbenn in December 2004- Illegal activities have taken place in a variety of vacant buildings, but that doesn't mean it needs to be included in an education tool such as this. TattooedPhreak 13:33, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm still new at editing this, but the 'Automated storage and retrieval' link goes to 'Crane (machine)'. Shouldn't it go to 'Pick_and_Pack' instead? Karanne (talk) 16:05, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Origination of Warehousing
To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Dave and I will be hosting an inventory training session for people in our inventory group. I am planning on discussion the origination of warehousing and sedgeway into warehousing today. I am having a difficult time finding info on where warehousing first originated. My guess would be Babylonions, Egyptians and the like... any details or facts would be appreciated.

Dave00155 23:07, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

How is this useful to a global readership? We don't even know where Dave is! Why was this put here? Karanne (talk) 16:08, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Definition of a Warehouse
The page defines a warehouse as "a commercial building for the storage of goods. I would argue that a warehouse is any point where materials are stored, changed forms (bulk-breaking), or reconfigured for distribution. Examples of not so traditional warehouses could be a field that stores hay bales as well as the hayloft of a barn that stores hay. While the barn may be a commercial building, the field is definitely not, but it still serves as a warehouse. An empty lot serves as a warehouse for a junkyard, a pantry serves as a warehouse for a household kitchen, and a vehicle trunk can serve as a warehouse for travelers on a road trip.

"A commercial building for the storage of goods" is a static definition that is fast becoming outdated. I argue that we should work to develop a more dynamic definition of a warehouse to more fully encompass the many examples of a warehouse. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Andrew John MacDonald (talk • contribs) 02:41, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

wharehouse
please put some important information on wharehouse. like history, meaning and types... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.74.126.103 (talk) 03:52, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

wharehouse ?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Saravanan51172 (talk • contribs) 04:32, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

storehouse redirect
Most people using the term storehouse will be looking for Storehouse PLC, yet it is a redirect to 'Warehouse', storehouse in this contect is terminology I have never heard of, I shall change the redirect to a disambag' page. Mtaylor848 (talk) 18:06, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Warehouse and Stores
What is diffence between warehouse and stores? Where the warehouse applicable and where the stores applicable? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 14.97.63.120 (talk) 07:20, 9 July 2011 (UTC)
 * This is a discussion about the article and not about the topic. I suggest you ask this at the reference desk Ro bin  15:38, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Cold storage info needs further review
This large edit was obviously copied from somewhere else. While it was cleaned up significantly, it could use some further review in case there are copyright problems and to determine which of the external links were meant to be references. --Ronz (talk) 16:26, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

Warehouse functions
Apologies for leaving the text so Manchester specific- but it is a good example of all types. I was just passing through looking for a link and saw the sad state of the article I needed. So I did a 5 min edit. Ideally, there would be a history section, and a discussion of historic function-- yes still a lot of work.--ClemRutter (talk) 19:07, 9 September 2012 (UTC)

Warenhäuser
I have been unable to turn up any indication that the German word Warenhaus ("department store") is in any way related to the English word "warehouse", except that the two elements in each word happen to be cognate. I rather think that's a load of rubbish that someone has put in the article. The writer's mistake in rendering the plural form -- it is Warenhäuser, not Warenhausen -- makes me wonder all the more what he knows about German. Kelisi (talk) 21:37, 12 April 2013 (UTC)
 * I see your problem in finding a reference- Duden is no help- and saying- spoken with pride by my octogenarian host while staying in D-Eller in 1978 is not easily verifiable. The intermediate stage is found in  whereby what we refer to as Lancashire cotton, is referred to then and now elsewhere as Manchester goods, and the shop as a Manchester goods warehouse- shortened to a Manchester Warehouse- in NSW one store with a web presence is The Manchester Warehouse.
 * I haven't mentioned this (see section above) as I don't want the article to become too Manchester Centric. However I would see the strong presence of Solomon Behrens and the other prominent German trading families in Manchester as a root to investigate while looking for the source. -- Clem Rutter (talk) 08:16, 13 April 2013 (UTC)

Unreferenced and US specific
In the last year I haven't seen any added reference or removal of un-cited material. Many unreferenced sections are US specific. images are still present that are pretty but don't illustrate any of the points in the text. What is a sust- because we have a picture of one? Shall I help out by deleting all this material or would someone like to add the references per MOS.-- Clem Rutter (talk) 13:40, 25 March 2014 (UTC)
 * The photo-fest has continued- and now we have added material about manufacturing facilities- totally off focus- if anyone wants to defend the material I am about to remove please comment here and give notable references. -- Clem Rutter (talk) 11:53, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

History Expansion Needed
I've expanded the history section quite significantly. In my view, it still doesn't cover anything close to what it needs to. I've expanded a little on Roman and medieval warehouses, but I imagine the most important developments took place in the 19th and 20th centuries. That's outside my area of expertise, but I'm sure visitors would appreciate anyone having a go at filling it in. Curzmg (talk) 04:39, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Structure and Links Review Needed?
As someone who only recently arrived at this article, the structure and choice of sections seems wholly illogical to me.

I don't mean to be cynical, but it actually seems as though some sections have been added with the intention of providing backlinks to commercial organisations. To me the following make sense:

History | Warehouse function | Storage and shipping systems | Modern trends

It also looks like 'Cool warehouses and cold storage' should be moved into 'Warehouse function', and 'Automation and optimization' into 'Modern trends' to better fit the current structure. The 'Warehousing education' section seems out of place. You could include an education sector in almost any article on this site, but I've rarely seen it before. It also focuses on and links to particular organisations, failing to discuss the broader issues of warehouse education.

On the links front, I included one semi-commercial link myself: "A History of the Warehouse", Action Storage. The page looks like it could be genuinely useful to readers, as well as including solid academic references. I also relied on the source to help write the history section. However, I'm doubting the value of a few references. Why are there two links to 'Pallet Racking Systems Ltd'? Especially when the linked pages provide very little additional information and there's already a complete Wiki page on mezzanines. "Automated Warehouses". Boss Fulfillment. and "Installation Guide for Warehouse Rack Systems" also seem very dubious to me - neither serves as an especially illuminating source on the topics they're cited for.

I'm not going to change anything for the moment, as it's probably best to discuss these issues first. However, it seems like this could be quite an important article for some, but the quality of material and references is currently relatively low. Curzmg (talk) 05:08, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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I have just modified 2 external links on Warehouse. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120309184810/http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/energyhall/page84.asp to http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/energyhall/page84.asp
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120127194533/http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/history/victorian/Victorian3.html to http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/history/victorian/Victorian3.html

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"A warehouse is a building"
A warehouse is an industrial, not a commercial, building, in the United States, UK, Canada, and Australia. Are there any reliable sources that classify "warehouse" as "commercial" and not "industrial?" I struck the word "commercial" from the lead, but another editor reverted and asked to take it to the talk page, because the industrial categorization is a too narrow modern view. But the modern view is the one we should adopt, as this article is called "Warehouse" and not "History of the warehouse." The industrial revolution only happened a couple hundred years ago, so it makes senses that classifying "warehouse" as "industrial" would be a modern notion. Wikipedia is also a modern notion. We should strike "commercial" from the lead because it's not accurate and not supported by reliable sources. Levivich (talk) 00:48, 17 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks for coming back. The difference is minor, and before I substantially added to the article a few years ago I was of the same opinion. There is no doubt that for a hundred years, all new warehouses were industrial boxes where goods wee stored but 'storage warehouses' is only part of the story. The article explains different types, but just to test your hypothesis that this is merely an historical phenonemon I did a googled 'Trading Warehouses' and found BBC Article in August which is fairly conclusive that modern warehouse construction is about providing more commercial buildings. I'll add the reference to the article. ClemRutter (talk) 09:42, 17 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Double checking your references, I found the definition you are looking for Industrial property is one of the three main asset classes of commercial property. All your references say something similar. Double checking the article, there are swathes of text that I left untouched when I last edited here, that still need further analysis and references. Theres a project! ClemRutter (talk) 10:02, 17 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks for providing the link to the BBC article. I disagree that it supports the statement, "A warehouse is a commercial building." The word "commercial" does not appear in that article at all. The article is about a CBRE report, and the CBRE person quoted in the article is Andre Martson, "who researches UK industrial and logistics property at CBRE, which compiled the figures for the BBC" (bold added). If anything, the BBC article seems to support, rather than contradict, the contention that warehouses are considered industrial, not commercial, properties. To take this article that talks about stores moving into warehouses, and use it to support the statement "A warehouse is a commercial building," is WP:SYNTH.
 * In some countries, such as the UK and Australia, "industrial" is a subcategory of "commercial." That doesn't mean "a warehouse is a commercial building." Saying that, without an explicit RS saying it, is also WP:SYNTH. The same source I linked to that says, "There are three main types of commercial property: retail, office and industrial" also says "Small industrial sites include single or double-storey buildings zoned for industrial use. These often have flexible interior space, usually a mix of warehouse and office space" and "Large industrial properties include medium to large warehouses and factories that are designed to manufacture or store goods." Heck, the article is called "Industrial property: what is it?"
 * I'm challenging "A warehouse is a commercial building" and I think that unless an inline citation can be provided that says explicitly that a warehouse is a "commercial building" (and not just "a building" or an "industrial building"), we cannot use the word "commercial" in the lead, per WP:INLINE. I'm not saying we have to use the word "industrial" either (although we should), but we can't use the word "commercial."
 * I know it may seem like a small thing, a new editor nitpicking about a single word in the lead of an article, but please consider this:
 * This article was born in 2004; it initially only said this, unsourced: A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transporters, customs, etc.
 * When I Google the phrase, "A warehouse is a commercial building", limiting results to before 2004 only, there are 8 results (on the entire internet!)
 * When I Google the same phrase, this time including results since 2004, there are 28,000 results. It's not just WP clone sites that have this copy of the WP language, it also appears in:
 * this company's course materials ("A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods...Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc.")
 * this company's letter from the General Manager ("A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc.")
 * this image gallery ("A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc.")
 * This is the power of Wikipedia. This is an example of how something gets written on Wikipedia and then propagates out through the world, even if it's incorrect and not otherwise supported. That's why WP:V is so important. We shouldn't say things that aren't supported by reliable sources. It seems to me that the notion that "a warehouse is a commercial building" is a notion that was invented on Wikipedia. Let's end that and re-align this article with reliable sources.
 * Towards the end, I am adding two sources for "A warehouse is a building" (without specifying commercial or industrial), and removing the word "commercial" from the lead, until and unless we have RSes saying "A warehouse is a commercial building." WP:V and WP:INLINE seems to demand this, and no sources supporting "A warehouse is a commercial building" have been put forward yet.
 * On a related note, the "types" section seems to be based entirely on Manchester, England sources. I will add additional sources to that section, along with something about the categorization of warehouses, probably later today. Cheers! Levivich (talk) 20:53, 17 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Update: I made the above changes, and several others, including adding a bunch of sources. I hope you agree it's an improvement! Levivich (talk) 22:55, 17 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks for staying involved. I really haven't the time at the moment needed to do this justice- but I will try to get back to you soon. Wikipedia doesn't normally reference the lede- as it will be a synopsis of the rest of the article. It is better to start by looking at the structure and the individual sections. There are clues in this talk page of work that still needed to be done. I'll try and explain tomorrow why the concept of warehouse as a storage shed is way to narrow. Yes, a lot is Manchester centric as thats where the work was done- but it has to be opened up.ClemRutter (talk) 01:40, 18 December 2018 (UTC)

"Fulfilment Logistics" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Fulfilment Logistics. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so. Steel1943 (talk) 21:38, 24 January 2020 (UTC)

Overseas warehouses
The whole third paragraph here needs a rewrite, I think. It looks like someone has just pulled directly from the linked article without editing it for Wikipedia. 217.113.162.175 (talk) 04:44, 17 March 2023 (UTC)