We originally had applied for the very first Workamping Program held in Fernley Nevada back in 2010. Those job openings filled up quickly so we were not picked as an Amazon Associate for that year. Since we were back on the west side of the country in 2012, we had applied once again while staying in Alaska this past summertime. Later, we had a telephone interview while in Anchorage and we were offered the job at the end of the interview. We both accepted.
I made RV Park reservations at Sparks Marina RV Park in Sparks Nevada as that was one of five places that Amazon would pay for our site except for any electric and all of the other locations were already booked up. The electric was $100 for 28 days.
We checked into Sparks RV Park on October 19th as Amazon would pay for two days prior to starting work and one day after finishing the seasonal term. Our work week started on October 21st even though we did not have to report to Amazon for our Orientation & Training meeting until October 24th.
On the 24th, we had a full day, 8.5 hours of orientation and training. We were issued our badges, watched many videos and had numerous people talk about company policies, had some training on different pieces of equipment, procedures, etc. We were both scheduled for Shift 7 which was Friday through Monday, four days, 7 am – 5:30 pm, 10 hours each day with a 30 minute lunch break. There was also one 15 minute break in the morning and one in the afternoon. Our first day of work was Friday, October 26th.
We were both assigned to the Outbound Shipping Department.
Amazon basically has two main departments with sub departments under each one. The main ones are Inbound and Outbound. Then under inbound, you have Receiver’s who are sorting all products coming into the warehouse by trucks. Next you have Prep People who prep products for sale & Stower’s who are stowing the products on shelves at different locations. Now for out-bound, there are Picker’s who walk around the warehouse Picking item’s to fill customer orders and placing the item’s into a large yellow plastic Tote. Once the tote is either full or complete, they will travel around the warehouse on conveyors to their specific destination depending on how they are classified for packaging. You have one department called Crisplant where multiple items are packaged into one box and sent out to the customer. You have another department called Shipping where there are multiple conveyor lines which the totes will travel down and eventually stack up along packing lines. These packaging lines are called TEKOH and another one called VDF Flats. TEKOH lines will have 12 different size boxes to choose from, dunnage (air bubble machine) and a tape dispenser. The one VDF Flat packaging line has two different sizes of bubble envelopes and two different sizes of variable size fold-able boxes available for packing the items into for shipment.
TEKOH is an acronym which stands for Toy’s, Electronics, Kitchen, (I forgot what the O stands for), and Home products which are packaged at those production lines called TEKOH. VDF is an acronym for Variable Dimensional Folders. Those are the foldable boxes which are used to package many sizes of books, CD’s, DVD’s, along with smaller household products, small toys and many other small items.
M wife & I were assigned to all different TEKOH and VDF production lines depending on the orders received and the amount of product that needed to be packaged and shipped out that day.
Each morning you report to your departments Stand-up area for any announcements from the manager and stretching exercises. After lunch you report again to the Stand-up area for the same routine. You were also required to wear comfortable Amazon approved footwear and clothes. For the first couple of weeks, I wore my sneakers however, with my right foot and lower leg problems that I have, it was too restrictive and uncomfortable. I later switched to my set of Crocs which only lasted about 5-7 more days before a safety person noticed and told me I had to change my shoes. I told them I had a medical condition that required me to wear Crocs. That wasn’t an answer that they wanted to hear. They then informed me to leave the building and that I would need to fill out a RMI (Request for Medical Information) form and have my doctor fill in his section describing any restrictions that I may have. While that form was being obtained from my doctor in LA, I purchased a pair of oversize sneakers and removed the laces on the right foot only. I was told by HR that if safety noticed the missing laces they would tell me to put them back. Nothing was said to me for the remaining time I was working there. Also, because of my standing restriction noted by my doctor that stated I could only stand 75% of the time while working, I was permanently assigned to the VDF packaging line where I could work while sitting on a stool that they provided to me for part of the day. As it turns out there were three other people with similar medical restrictions working that same production line.
So now comes the good part. The week of the Thanksgiving holiday which included Black Friday, they announced that there will be a mandatory overtime day added to the work schedule. Our OT day was scheduled for Tuesday as our regular shift was Friday – Monday. At the same time they announced that the shift hours were being changed from our normal 7 am – 5:30 pm to the new hours of 6 am – 6 pm everyday for both the regular shift days and for the mandatory OT day too. That meant we would be working 57.5 hours every week. OMG - UGH!
We could have handled the four 10 hour days or even possibly the five 10 hour days but the 6am – 6pm 5 days a week were absolutely horrendous. We had no life whatsoever. We would leave the RV at 5 am and would return at 6:45 pm or so. Only time enough to eat and then off to bed so we could wake up sometime between 3 & 4 am to leave at 5 am. The two days off were used to rest on one day by sleeping most of the day and then the second day was doing errant's, wash, food shopping, banking, etc. That schedule went on until late in the week of our last work week, December 21st & 22nd. They reduced the hours for those two days as the PEAK rush was dwindling.
On our last day, December 22nd, at 2:30 pm, we had a Camper’s meeting in the conference room which was our exit interview. We then filled out a questionnaire and they also gave us two parting gifts, a small bag of Ghirardelli Chocolates and an Amazon key ring. They provided some statistics on what the facility had shipped during the PEAK season and also had some department managers speak about the successes of the plant. They did state that on December 19th, the facility holds about 1.2 million items and that they had shipped 2.5 million items on that day. That meant that the people working in the facility that day had stowed and picked twice their total capacity during that day. Luckily, that was one of our days off. We both filled out the questionnaire and where it stated if I would come back next year, I checked NO. my wife checked YES. I stated the reasons why I wouldn’t come back due to the very long hours also the lack of communication and proper management for all employees. The people working there were not friendly at all. Some would not follow the rules and procedures which made it difficult for the ones that did. Many campers who I had a chance to talk with stated that they would not be coming back next year either.
At the Fernley Nevada facility, they had hired about 300 Workampers to fill in for the extra help needed during the PEAK season. They also hired about 700-800 Integrity people which is the local temp agency that provides people during the PEAK season. The other two facilities where they hire Workampers are Campbellsville, Kentucky and Coffeyville, Kansas.
For those that would like to read more about the Amazon experience, here are a few links to articles that I had searched out once we got back to California for some rest.
Inside Amazon's Warehouse - mcall.com
The Secret Lives of Amazon's Elves
The link below has many additional links to information about Amazon.
Business & Technology | Behind the Amazon.com smile: About this series | Seattle Times Newspaper
I will NOT be working for Amazon again, however, if they decide to hire Nong back again, I will go depending on where we happen to be and what we are doing at the time. However, my job will be taking care of people’s pets while they are away from their RV’s working at the Amazon Sweat Shop. Or I will find something else to keep me occupied for the 2-3 months we will spend there.
Happy New year to all and we hope that 2013 brings good health and prosperity throughout the entire year.
Dr4Film ----- Richard