Travel Blog

Our first couple of days on the job at Amazon.com are finished, and we are feeling better about it than sugar beets.  But, come on, how hard is it to top that?  The first thing that we found out in training is that we will be working five eleven hour days instead of four ten hour days per week.  We don't mind the schedule change too much because it means a lot of juicy overtime.

After a quick overview - no stealing, gum chewing, or running in the halls - Sue and I were assigned to be pickers.  Now to get an idea of what this facility is like, picture a Sam's Club or Costco building and then imagine it ten times the size.  As pickers we run all over the facility carrying a hand held computer terminal that directs us to areas to pick a particular product.  Then we put the stuff in plastic bins and send these off along the thirty miles of conveyer belts that run through the place.  Along the way the stuff gets sorted out until it is shipped off.

We have no idea what stuff is going where or to whom, but I can't help imagining who would be buying some of these things.  I was mostly picking in the apparel section, but Sue and I both got to work the areas with the popular items like video games, dolls, and toys.

I like the work so far, but I can see how it gets a little monotonous over time.  Amazingly enough there are people who have been working here for ten years or more.  But for the holiday season there are about seven hundred of us temporary workers swelling the ranks to make sure everyone gets their gifts.