Amazon WrapUp

Saturday was our last day of helping this company through its peak activity.  About 50 of us on Shift#3-Days met in a training room at 4:30 where the full time managers shared some interesting information about the Nevada operation for just this year.  For anyone nuts about numbers, here are a few tidbits I picked up at the meeting:

            - 406 CamperForce people accepted employment, mostly retired seniors

            - 136 of them had worked somewhere at Amazon previously

            - We worked only 6 weeks while others have been here since September

            - Although some left for medical or weather issues, 117 stayed through the end

            - Many records were broken this year

                        - Inventory peaked at 11.8 million pieces, now down to about 9 million

                        - Us stowers put away 449,000 pieces on a single day in Nov (where??)

                        - Output peaked for a single shift at 264,000 pieces pulled for shipments

 

Will we do this again?  Paige says it’s like childbirth – ask us again in a few months.  It wasn’t hard work (other than lugging huge, heavy textbooks from the aisles into the bins).  There were long days, leaving at 5:30 AM before the sun came up, and returning about 5:30 PM after the sun had set.  The work becomes a bit mind-numbing: find a bin with any space and fill it with something.  Most important things to bring are good shoes and a sense of humor.  It also helps to have the flexibility to reach from ankle level to shelves at 6 feet from the floor.  We have heard rumors of pressure to meet “production standards” but that may be more common in other warehouses.  The people here in Nevada seemed to really appreciate our being here.  Nobody made a big deal about our rate, since our attendance and focus were better than most temporary help.

 

Amazon has paid our campground fees while we were working, and pays for today as well so we can wrap things up.  We have been invited to a local family’s home for a brunch after church today.  Then we will do laundry and clean up the rig for tomorrow’s departure.  Tonight we’re going out to dinner with Bill and Ogie and then to a performance of the Peking Acrobats at the Grand Sierra Casino where we’re staying.  We’ve thoroughly enjoyed having them here with us!  We’ll be seeing them in late January again when we work with them at a Nomads project in Phoenix.

 

We plan to head west, over Donner Pass, into California where the temps are higher.  We hope to spend the next few days at an Escapees park near Fresno, then continue south toward Los Angeles for a 6 day group tour of the Tournament of Roses Parade and associated activities.  In the meantime, just taking today off to recuperate from all our aches and pains is a pleasure!

 

 

                Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!!