Back to Working

It was a good thing we got our sightseeing done over the weekend and on Monday, because we haven’t had much free time since.  Tuesday we reported for duty at Amazon’s warehouse in Fernley, NV, about 30 miles away.  Of their 20 “fulfillment centers” only three hire RVers for the seasonal crunch; the others are in Kansas and Kentucky.  There are almost 500 RVers here, parked at 5 or 6 RV parks around the area.  They have also hired about 1,000 other temporary workers, many of whom would like to become permanent employees.

 

Tuesday was a full day of Human Resources forms and signatures, compliance videos, and safety classes.  Wednesday we learned more about the nature of our “Stowing” duties and the use of our hand-held barcode scanners.  We scan the product, then the shelf we are putting it on, then enter the quantity.  The product goes wherever it fits, similar to Baldor’s random location process but the products and the bin locations are so small that they end up being packed really densely.   We are busy filling the shelves which are already about 90% filled, so it can be challenging to find a spot.  We love to see the “pickers” come and take items for shipping and give us more room. They expect the sales and shipping rates to take off after Thanksgiving, when our work gets a little easier, but it will be harder for the order “pickers” then.  The process is really pretty amazing.

 

Our normal schedule will be 4 days of 10 hours each per week, but that didn’t happen this week with a couple of half days, stuck between a couple of full days.  The next 2 weeks (through Thanksgiving and “black Friday”) mean mandatory overtime so we will have 5 days (Tues-Sat) of 10 hrs each.  We have found that we have no physical aches and pains after our first week, but standing on concrete all this time means we need good shoes.  Instead, our biggest adjustment is with our sleep schedule, since we have to leave early enough to get from Reno to Fernley, get parked, and ready to punch the time clock by 6:00 AM.

 

We’re looking forward to our “weekend” of Sunday and Monday.  We’ll go to church with Bill and Ogie tomorrow and on Monday we’re going to meet Denny and Diane for lunch halfway between Elko, where they are doing missionary work, and Reno.  It will be a 2 ½ hr drive for us but will be so nice to spend time with them.