Orientation and Learning How to Pick (Amazon)

Monday we had our full day of classes that consisted of the history of Amazon, safety, sexual harassment and other factory related topics. Pretty boring stuff but needed in todays environment.

They seem to really like the work campers here in the local community. We are not taking away from the local employment. They have exhausted a three county area looking for qualified workers. It is a small community so they really like the work campers to come in and spend their money.

Amazon says that they like the work campers because of our work ethic and how we do not miss work. The normal workforce consists of about 1300 people. They then pull from the local workforce agency that supports them each year during peak season. Then they go after the work campers.

During peak there will be about 4000 people covering a 24/7 operation. Last year they utilized about 450 work campers at this location. This year they are shooting for around 800. They still need to find more so if any one is interested let me know. One problem I am seeing is that there may not be enough campgrounds to meet the need.

Tuesday we started our process school. Meaning we are learning how to pick. Basically we use a cart, totes, and a handheld scanner that tells us everything. Like what pick mod, building, floor, aisle, bin number and then finally what product we need to pull. We could end up in three different buildings and any number of four floors.

Here is a picture that I found on the web. It is not our facility but will give you an idea. The blue area in the back are pick mods. This is only one. There are about 20 of them.

We get to go up and down aisle after aisle after aisle, floor after floor after floor filling the yellow totes with customer orders. When totes are full send them on there way on a conveyor.

Today we only worked half a shift and we were pretty tired, and they did not even get us out of the practice area yet.

So we will be getting familiar with the process the next two days with half shifts, then we have Saturday off.

Amazon is also having a company picnic at the state park next door on Saturday. Since we have Saturday off we plan on going. Besides there are door prizes and free food!!

That’s it for now.

Enjoy Your Day!