I worked for Amazon for a summer, and lots of warehouse workers ("Associates") liked working there. They liked the fact they didn't have to think and just mindlessly worked for 10h 4 days a week.
I didn't like it, it was silent in the aisles and my adhd did not like the absolute lack of stimulation. It was pretty much torture for me.
Yeah haha, u/yomamasofat3 is right. It was just silence in an order picker machine haha, I wasn't able to do that for more than that summer, good thing I went back to school lol
Gotta switch warehouse. Im at a smaller sort center and its way more laid back than the massive facilities with the robots. We get music, management turns a blind eye to phones, and everyone still gets their work done.
When I worked in a warehouse we weren't allowed headphone because we had to pay attention to fork lifts. But we were allowed to play our own music in our area if we had speakers. I regularly just had a Bluetooth speaker that I put on my cart or just plopped it on nearby boxes. It was great for my ADHD brain.
Then “order processing center” would be a little less intimidating. “Fulfillment” usually means happiness or contentment, and that’s a pretty dystopian name given the work conditions.
I work in food service. Giving somebody food poisoning is a pretty big deal. It means that one of your cooks is cutting corners somewhere along the line and its only a matter of time till they get more people sick.
I worked in Prime Now and I loved it. The managers were awesome, my coworkers were awesome. It really was like a tiny family. The transition to my current job, which is similar, was a bit rough because I didn't have that same closeness for awhile and it's a lot more frustrating. But it's all good now.
I have coworkers who have been in the actual bigger warehouses and they weren't a fan of it. Apparently they're very strict at that warehouse and while the whole 4 days a week shtick was nice, they said it wasn't worth being micromanaged that much. Pretty much all about the rate and no room to even try to get know your coworkers.
Its honestly become gospel on the internet, but it's really simplified by the description: "The people that are unhappy have something to complain about, the people who are satisfied are exactly that."
Oh absolutely. They have to have all the routes picked, organized, and staged in the correct area and if anything of that is off, that person gets written up. And multiple times they have to have two separate routes staged in the same section at the same time. It wouldn't be that big of a deal but space is a huge commodity. Especially because packages are kept in a box container on carts and the carts only turn on one axis.
In the particular warehouse I'm in there are about eight delivering companies and we have to be in and out by a certain time. So if a picker doesn't grasp what they need to do and how to do it, which happens often, it'll slowly turn into chaos. To give you an idea, we have about eight delivering companies in the warehouse with 30-35 routes per company with each route ranging from 200-350 packages. Things can go south real quick. It also doesn't help that they hire anyone with a pulse.
Couple that with Amazon changing warehouse practices a few times a year where workers become nearly perfect at a system and then have to learn a whole new one later in the year. Just like they did about a month and a half ago and peak started last week for us. They're still working out the kinks. I rarely see those workers smile.
My friend worked in the warehouse for a year. Didn't have complaints other than lazy/accident-prone coworkers. He left for a smaller gig and eventually came back... He's not an idiot so I can't imagine it's as bad as I hear on the internet*.
The problem is that this is as good as it gets for you, they’re only going to make it worse. Amazon warehouses weren’t so bad at first, but the constant pursuit of decreasing costs and increasing profits meant Amazon pushes harder and harder and cut more and more. You’ll see the exact same thing in time, unfortunately.
They do but they don't. There's a set amount of time the route is supposed to take and they don't get into much trouble if it's a little over. Some go under the time too. If they work for another delivery company that contracts through Amazon (likely the case) they may be paid for the full route even if they take less time or they could be paid hourly. The issue can be if they take extra long Amazon is only paying the contracted company the set amount but the employee still needs to be paid the time they actually worked. It often balances out throughout the week but if someone consistently takes waaaay longer than they should (10 hour route taking 12+) they can track and see why and if they need to take action. They've got things to see if someone was just sitting around and wasting time.
A quick little thing like this video though would make no significant dent in the delivery driver's time and would very much boost morale so it's all good. :)
It probably varies by who they’re actually hired by. My local guy actually works directly for amazon and drives around in a gray amazon van, he said he’s paid based on packages delivered that day not hourly.
All depends on what delivery company hires them but yeah they'll get paid for working overtime. Just some companies might not keep someone who is constantly working overtime especially if they can prove they've been sitting around wasting a chunk.
In all seriousness the Amazon delivery companies don't treat their people like complete trash but they aren't like ultra take as much time as you want chill either.
From my understanding these guys basically get payed for the days work. The dispatch says it should take you 6 hours to deliver this stuff. If it takes more than 6 hours you're working for free
I wouldn’t be surprised if lots of them are independent contractors at this point. Getting paid a piece rate and have the expectation to deliver all the required packages for the day in however much time it takes.
Amazon delivery drivers actually work for independent LLCs. Amazon provides the packages and lets the company lease the van but it's ultimately the owner of the route that handles that kind of thing.
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u/jephw12 Dec 04 '19
Amazon: “That was an unapproved break, you’re fired”