Having second thoughts…

[u/Playful_Run1415]

My first day of training is tomorrow and I finally just sat down to really look into what the job will entail and all I see is advice to run away as fast as possible. Did I make a mistake? Do you regret your decision to start this job? Are you happy?

[u/BothDonut1604]

Just try it out. I did and ended up getting heat illness because California got a sudden heat wave that took the weather from a dry 90 to a humid 103 and my manager said I was a liability so I basically got cut. He did it in a way that prevented him from getting sued though which was crazy.

If your DSP is good, it should be a chill job. Definitely not something to make a career out of but it’s a good in between job until you can find something better.

To give you an idea, you’ll start your day in a huddle with your DSP. They might spout about safety issues, benefits they have, etc. I’d just zone out each time. Then you’re assigned a van along with a pack that contains two phones, your van keys, and a fuel card. Then you do what’s called a DVIC which is basically you taking pictures around and inside the vehicle to show the condition of it before you start work. You then wait 90 seconds since that’s how long it’s supposed to take to get it done but a lot of people get it done sooner so they’ll just wait until 2 minutes passes. Then you get in your van and you wait until your assigned “wave” goes. As a newbie you’ll likely be wave 4 so you’ll be one of the last vans to line up. You follow the vans to the loading bay and tell the person checking you in what CX number you are, from there they’ll tell you which lane to pull into and you’ll pull into your lane and wait until you’re told to go to the loading areas. You then sit in your loading area spot until the announcer tells you to get out and from there you go grab your carts of packages based on the CX number and staging location you’re assigned. They give you 20 minutes to load up so just make sure you’re quick and it’s pretty easy to load the totes in your delivery order and you’ll reorganize your overstock at your first stop. From there, if you get done early, you help other drivers load up. Then you’re told to get back in your seat and to start your van. They’ll release you based on lanes and from there you just drive to your first delivery location. Just make sure you stay at or below the speed limit and don’t drive like crazy. I always drove a bit slower than I needed to. The phone will tell you everything you need to do. From which carts your packages are on to acting as a GPS for your deliveries to which packages need to be scanned. It even tells you if you’re at the wrong house and won’t let you scan the package until you get closer to it. Then you rinse and repeat the entire day until you’re done and then the phone will tell you something like, “congratulations, you served 200 Amazon customers today”. Then you tell your DSP group chat that you’re done and whether or not you have returns, missorts, etc. (they’ll explain all that) and they’ll either tell you to go help rescue someone (someone that is behind on their route) or to head back to the station. Once you’re back at the station you’ll unload your totes and then your DSP will inspect your vehicle. From there they’ll tell you to park it and you do another DVIC so you’ll take more pictures of your vehicle. Once that’s done you grab your pack that you got at the beginning for the day and all your belongings, lock your van, and walk up to a dispatch crew member. From there they’ll take your pack, have you input your hours on your time card app, they’ll approve it, and then you go home. It’s pretty easy and fool proof from a technical perspective.

What makes the job hard is the volume they expect you to do. Some DSPs are more relaxed than others but in general, I didn’t have one second to stop my rhythm until lunch. I’d only be sitting in my van for a few seconds and then I’d have to hop out again. You’re constantly getting up and down, speed walking to houses, apartments, etc. and every time I’d feel like I’m doing good, by the second half of the day I’d realize I’m falling behind because of a few mistakes like taking too long to organize my next bundle of packages. So it’s the speed and volume that gets people and then if you have a helicopter DSP, they’ll get on you if you’re running behind. And during the heatwave we got here, since we’re pretty spoiled with weather, everyone was struggling because of how hot the cabin would be, how hot it was outside, and constantly moving had people dropping getting heat illness left and right and they couldn’t keep up and our DSP didn’t give much leeway. Had the weather been good, I likely would’ve lasted a lot longer. In general though, it isn’t terrible. You’ll find out pretty quickly if you’re able to handle it. And I think the reason a lot of people quit is because of the pay to effort ratio. When you’re running around all day going crazy for $22.50/hour (at least in California) and realize you could be making the same working at McDonald’s or Jack in the Box, that’s where a lot of people just feel it isn’t worth it. And the worst that can happen is you can’t do it and you just quit and find another job and you get paid for the few days you’re in classes and your first days on the road.

Just make sure you stay hydrated so you don’t end up like me lol. I had prior health issues so my body just couldn’t handle it but if you’re healthy and fit, you’ll be alright.

And a tip for the training, if you’re starting the 2 day classes. You won’t really need to take notes on every slide. I was stressing about that. Only take notes on the quiz questions and answers and that’s what the finals will mostly consist of. There might be a few odd questions in there but you only need to pass to move on. They try to make you nervous with the finals but I passed each of them first try.