There has been a lot of talk about the sd card used lately as part of the problem. They switched the card vendor and there has been reports of faulty loads like this. Switching the card back to the original (sandisk?) and they are fine. Not sure if it's a slight interop issue or just cards flaking.

depends... depends if buying right off the line... if the distributor is shipping in bulk to themselves first for savings... or shipping in bulk for necessity (think containers.. ). Many domestic buys for new games will be a direct drop-ship from Stern... but that's because its a game that was sold before it was shipped from stern and the timings align.

Still can be staffed by a temp agency. Not uncommon in factory work like that where the temp agency needs to fill the spots 'ordered' by the factory... yet they stay employees of the temp agency so the factory can just 'contract' the work. People can stay employeed by the temp agency for a long long time and stick with the same job/role. Both parties like that because consistent workers usually means better output.. meaning the factory is happier with the contracted agreement.

It's the employees that get screwed in the long run because they have no real job security, benefits, etc. Just steady work...