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Supposedly after a 4 year hiatus, the Chocolate Factory re-opens. It remains locked according to Grandpa Joe but continues to pump out more delicious candy than ever before. The Oompa Loompas remain a secret so clearly they aren't the truck drivers and if the factory is locked it can't allow non-Oompa-Loompa drivers within for shipping. Who ships Wonka's goods?

Is there a canon explanation in the book or in either of the movies that I'm missing or is it just one of those things?

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Book

In the original Roald Dahl book, the chocolates came out of a serving hatch, ready to be loaded onto Post Office trucks for delivery to the shops.

‘But Grandpa, who,’ cried Charlie, ‘who is Mr Wonka using to do all the work in the factory?’

‘Nobody knows, Charlie.’

‘But that’s absurd! Hasn’t someone asked Mr Wonka?’

‘Nobody sees him any more. He never comes out. The only things that come out of that place are chocolates and sweets. They come out through a special trap door in the wall, all packed and addressed, and they are picked up every day by Post Office trucks.’

‘But Grandpa, what sort of people are they that work in there?’

Films

In the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, we see a Wonka-branded van driven by a non-Oompa-Loompa.

Human next to a pale blue van branded with "Wonka Bar"

And in the 2005 reboot Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the gates open and automated packing arms extend to load trucks driven by what are presumably non-Oompa-Loompa lorry drivers (because otherwise, why the need for secrecy?)

When Charlie says that "the gates are always closed", he seems to be referring to the factory doors, not the loading-yard gate.

A line of red trucks in the snow, branded with the word "Wonka", with conveyor belts coming out of flaps in the side of a building loading brown boxes into the back of each truck

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(2005 version) I would think that the delivery trucks are automated. While I was watching the film, I noticed that the tracks in the snow were perfect, and not really differing from one another. The trucks also were perfectly in sync with each other. No driver I’ve seen could do that. So they are automated I would think.

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    If they're automated, how are they unloaded? – Valorum Jun 2 at 20:39
  • Great question! I would assume that there is another conveyer belt inside of the truck itself. When it arrives at the unloading bay, the belt will activate, sending the boxes into the store. Thanks! – Steven Wellwood Jun 4 at 15:59
  • Except that we see inside the trucks and there's no belt. Also the driving isn't nearly as perfectly in-sync as you seem to be suggesting. I'm not, as the saying goes, buying it. – Valorum Jun 4 at 17:45
  • That’s okay, I came up with the theory fairly quickly, and it’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie. Also, not everything is perfect, we make some mistakes sometimes, and that’s okay. Perhaps the people at the shops unload the trucks? As for the slight out of sync driving, it could be all of the chocolate inside of the truck, acting as a weight. Thanks again! – Steven Wellwood Jun 5 at 20:14
  • My philosophy with SFF is to never put anything into my answer that I can't directly back up with evidence. It limits what I can write (often annoyingly so), but it also means that I'm only giving people something that they themselves can check :-) – Valorum Jun 5 at 20:17
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Vehicles may not have access to the factory, but factories have loading bays and gate "Airlocks" for offloading for delivery.

Picture of a standard factory loading bay

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