Chana Joffe-Walt of NPR's All Things Considered did a bit of seasonal research for us to answer the big question: How does Santa manage to deliver all that stuff in one night? Since Santa didn't consent to an interview (or a process audit) Joffe-Walt turned to experts -- FedEx and UPS.
Let's start with 76 million Christian kids around the world and 24 hours to deliver one gift per kid. Let's slide by needing to deliver 9000 gifts a second (not to mention the weight the sleigh would have to be able to carry) and look at the support staff necessary to pull it off. He needs 46 distribution centers around the world to restock the sleigh, needing 400,000 workers, another 60,000 to optimize flight paths and clear it with the FAA, then there are workers monitoring the weather, a team to clear customs, a huge team to stock the distribution centers from the workshops at the North Pole, Human (Elf) Resources, accounting, administration, etc. etc. etc. for a grand total of 12 million employees in Santa, Inc.
Or you explain it all with magic and 9 reindeer.
The audio is worth the 6 1/2 minutes.
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