How Did We Like Working for Amazon?

For eight weeks, starting at the end of October, 2012, we were CamperForce Associates in Campbellsville, KY.  We were released on December 19th, whereupon we headed down to meet family in Nashville for a fabulous holiday!  So, how did we like it?

Panorama shot of our HUGE facility--about a half mile from one end to the other.

We’re divided. At our exit interview, Dede said she’d come back but Kim said no.  It was mind-numbing and physically pressurized: strength & endurance building. Every night we went home and crashed from exhaustion! We were “Pickers;” we held a scanner which told us which section of the warehouse to go to, which floor, which alcove, which shelf, which bin, which product, which size/color and how many. Scan it in, put it into the tote and roll our cart on to the next one! When the tote filled up (but NOT TOO FULL or it would jam in the ribbon of multi-lane conveyor highways stretching from end to end) we put it on the conveyor and got another. Someone else packed it, someone else shipped it, and you know the rest… Sorry, no pictures inside the fulfillment center. We went through metal detectors coming and going; everything except our work gear was kept in a locker while we worked our 10-hour shift, 6 days/week. There were plenty of cool, automated parts of the plant; our part was still human-operated. We walked about 10-15 miles every day.

Tired and happy to be at our last day of work--early dismissal!

 

Our facility broke records, we made history, we had fun, we made friends, and we’re proud we made it to the end!  We won contests: Dede was the first to win a prize for picking over 110 products in an hour.  A couple days later, Kim beat her at his usual 4:1 ratio—he was lucky to get on an assignment that included gift cards. He picked about 400+ in a half hour!

If that didn’t teach us to pick fast, we had other incentives. First of all we had to fight off the boredom. Second, we learned about the consumerism of the general public. During Hurricane Sandy we picked a lot of emergency recovery supplies and storm gear. People were sent home because there weren’t enough orders to keep us all busy—most of the East Coast was without power! And we didn’t realize there was so much adult product purchased; nor did we know what these products were anyway, covered entirely in black plastic. At lunch we would ask our friends, guess what I picked today!? What’s a ---? That’s when we decided we needed to read up! We downloaded the Mr. Gray books.  OK! Thank you! The lesson: Pick faster and don’t think about things too much!

OK so it was pretty miserable, grueling work. Dede had never done physical labor before. It’s hard to believe some people do this kind of work day-in, day-out for their whole life. The full-timers looked like body builders. It’s humbling, really. Everyone should do this kind of work at least once in a lifetime. We worked the A-shift, which meant getting up at 5:15AM (in the dark) so we could get to the warehouse and stretch during the 6:30 morning meeting. We never saw the sunlight except a minute of sunset at the end of the day. As depression began to creep in, Dede ordered one of those “Light Therapy” units!

 



Police directed traffic outside the facility. While hundreds of us were entering, hundreds of others were heading home.



 



Done for the day. A moment of sun—setting!



 

 

When we got home to the comfort of our coach, we were in for unwelcome roughness. Our campground was more rustic than we’ve been used to for about 10 years! To start with, there was some new legislation in KY that prevented the propane truck from coming to fill our tank. We watched the declining oil gauge as the temperatures dropped…thanks to the persistence of our Amazon team leaders, we were never in jeopardy.

Our coach was up on about 8 inches of blocks on one side!

Not to complain but it’s a fact: we couldn’t get any phone reception in the coach, we couldn’t get any TV channels on the antennae, the wireless Internet tower didn’t reach our site and it was a dry county.  Ugh! Makes us appreciate the hot tubs, paved streets and other amenities of civilization, especially the local library and the college music department in Campbellsville.

 



 

View of the valley by the side of our campground.



 

 



Our first campfire in many years!



 

We made the best of things and we made the best of like-minded friends, with whom we shared many laughs and stories! We found a Mexican restaurant that served margaritas and this became our hang with our new friends.  We took a couple day trips together. We plan to meet up with our new friends again and again as we all travel the country.



Kim n Dede, Jim n Barb, Barry n Carol, Jason n Julie (“The Kids”).

 

 

Our neighbors, "The Kids" from California came all this way to work hard!



 

We saw some weather in Kentucky. On a clear day we had beautiful foliage outside our coach windows. Then there were frosty mornings (Dede got to stay home one day while Kim went to work.)

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

In the end, we had an informative experience, a great physical routine, some super-cool friends for future fun, and the best part is that because of the money we made (about $6,000), we’re spending 2013 traveling the country. Today we’re in Florida and soon we’ll be roving out west. During the year, we’ll work-camp a total of 4 months, living on our savings and Kim’s pension; a luxury lifestyle on a shoestring budget!   

 

“Not all who wander are lost.” – J.R. Tolkien

Dam and park near our campsite. Historic site of a Confederate hospital.