A UK Amazon site code begins with the three-letter code of the nearest large airport and ends with a sequence number. For a route planner the prefix is information about the region, not about the address. The binding address comes from the shipping plan in the seller account, not from a third-party list, because the network changes faster than those lists are updated.
Where the site code comes from
Amazon describes the convention in its own documentation: the first three characters of a fulfilment centre's identification code come from the IATA code of the closest large airport. The rule is the same on both sides of the Atlantic, so it works in the United Kingdom too. For a haulier that is a useful shortcut: a code starting with the Birmingham airport abbreviation means a West Midlands site, one starting with the Manchester abbreviation means the north west.
The digit at the end is a sequence number within that cluster. It says nothing about the size of the building, whether it accepts double-stacked pallets, or what hours the gate keeps. Those facts belong to the individual site, not to the prefix.
Why we do not publish an address list
Because such a list would be wrong on the day someone used it. Amazon opens and closes buildings, changes their function and moves goods-in between locations. Third-party tables of codes and addresses circulating online are often a year or two behind, and the gap between two sites in the same region is frequently sixty kilometres of detour and a lost appointment.
The binding address sits in exactly one place: the shipping plan created in the seller account. From there it goes onto the labels, and from there we take it for the appointment request. The same address goes into the Carrier Central booking, which we cover in the article on booking an Amazon delivery appointment.
Site specifics, or what the code will not tell you
Amazon publishes for carriers a table of addresses and delivery specifics for its European sites. Among other things it records which sites accept double-stacked pallets and what vehicle restrictions apply. That table, not a general rule, decides how a load is built for a particular address. The stacking rules themselves are collected in our article on pallet stacking and double-stacking.
Some requirements are common to the whole network, and those catch out most deliveries from the continent. The vehicle must be at least 7.5 tonnes with a reinforced floor, unloading is from the rear only, pallets are loaded with the short side facing the rear, and thirty centimetres of clearance must remain both above the load and behind the last pallet. Wagon and drag trailer types are not permitted.
What this means for a run from Poland
Amazon's UK sites are not spread evenly. The densest clusters sit along the main logistics corridors of central England and in the north west, with further points running north into Scotland, west into Wales and out to the south west. For a vehicle arriving from Poland that means something simple: the first drop usually falls in central England, and anything outside that band adds hours after the port.
So when several sites are on the run, the drop order is fixed together with the loading order in Poland, not on arrival. We set this out in the articles on one collection and several Amazon warehouses and on sorting pallets by destination site. Our warehouse in Milton Keynes sits in the same central band, so holding freight for a new appointment does not mean crossing half the country.
Sources
- Amazon Seller Central: fulfilment centre code convention (IATA airport code)
- Amazon Seller Central: vehicle requirements and site delivery specifics
- Amazon Carrier Central (United Kingdom)
Have a site address from a shipping plan and want to know what the run really takes? Send it through our quote form and we will come back with a route plan and a proposed appointment. The direction is described on our United Kingdom transport page.
