Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Picken and Picken and Picken

 

That seems to be our lives now. Everyday we go into Amazon, get our scanners and start the race through the maze. There are now around 150 “pickers” each day.

As we roll our carts up and down the aisles, we have to constantly watch out for each other. The aisles are so close that if you pass another picker, the carts will rub together.

Some aisles are so narrow you can only get one cart at a time into them. And if you are blessed with an ample backside like I am, it is hard to get things from the bottom bins. Luckily, as time goes by my backside seems to be getting a little smaller. Open-mouthed smile

Picking involves getting a scanner, read the scanner to find out where in the plant do you need to go. Grab a cart, load totes onto it, and then go to the bin location that the scanner tells you to go to.

Sometimes the bins are within feet of each other and other times they are a 100 aisles away. We will have hours where we will go from one bin to another that is 100 aisle’s away, get one thing, and then go back to the aisle we just came from. It is a great cardio workout.

We are timed between each pick. At each break we are given a report on how well we are doing. There is pressure on the regular employees to keep their percentages up. The work campers however are not given any pressure.

They have told us that they want us to enjoy our time here and not worry about our percentages. I think that this is a physiological ploy on their part. They know that most work campers are within a certain age group and most of us have a very strong work ethic. We put the pressure on ourselves and within a few weeks our percentages are usually at an average of the fulltime employees.

I am a competitive person. My goal has been to at least get a better percentage than Max. After 6 weeks I have come to the conclusion that this is not going to happen. She is FAST! I have beaten her a few times but she has beaten me so much I can see how the KC Chiefs feel!

During the last week they have started training me to help with the tote replenishment team. This involves taking large pallets of totes and distributing totes all along all of the conveyors on each floor. It is pretty strenuous with lots of lifting and bending. It is a good break from the picking. Plus, I can use it as an excuse that I was tired when my score falls below Max’s.

They also are training me for clearing jams within the overhead conveyors. They asked me if I was afraid of heights. Of course, I had to say no, that I was only afraid of the falls! One in every bunch I know!

I had to have catwalk training so I would be authorized to go up onto the catwalks and walk along the screen meshing to clear jams. I have not had to do any of this yet, but I think with peak season just beginning to start, it will not be long.

We are also looking at where we are going to stay in Quartzsite this January. One couple we are working with, will be there with the Escapee’s Boondocking group. We are members also, so we may just go with that group. We also know a few other couples that will be there as well.

We did go out to the city park and played with the metal detectors for an hour or so. The area was so “trashy” that it was hard to determine when to dig. I guess in city parks, we need to set the discrimination levels up real high to help from picking up all of the pull tabs and foil.

The problem with setting it high is that you will miss on picking up nickels and some rings. We have a lot of practicing to do to get comfortable with what the machine is telling us. I did find three penny’s. Now, I only have to find 139,997 more to pay for the detectors!

That’s it for this week. We only have 5 more weeks until we head for Arizona. Open-mouthed smile

Enjoy Your Day!

2 comments:

Mike and Terri said...

Boy, you really are getting a good workout! With the beginning of the holidays next week, this is a great time to be getting so much exercise.

gypsygirl said...

I can tell you that the weather is great. We probably won't take the Caravan there as we are close and will just drive there. We will get together.