I took a job at an Amazon warehouse for 2 weeks because I was curious. AMA.
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Anonymous
no most people don't stay because they are drug addicts or want a free ride. The Aberdeen MD site is a great example of this. The employees light up as soon as they walk out that door. Or they take a job stay for less than a week then don't show up. |
Anonymous
In some ways extremely sophisticated and in other ways not very sophisticated. Products are still being picked by human hands, items are placed in boxes by humans and pallets are still being wrapped by people too. Also all trucks are loaded by people ( this looks like the worst job to me because of how hot the trucks can get). I would think all of this would have been automated by now. They do have a machine which can make, select and tape boxes but I was told it was not in all facilities. In some older facilities people are still making boxes by hand. They have orange floor bots that bring carts of items to people to pick from and you can not get in their way. There are also cameras everywhere which track all movement. |
Anonymous
To work there you needed to pass a drug test and would not be hired if you failed it. Marijuana was an exception. Honestly I didn’t get the impression anyone was a major drug addict there and most people did work hard. Otherwise you would be fire for being off task. People quit because the job is physically too strenuous, they found a better opportunity, or the found the work boring or the environment too depressing/isolating. Again you may not speak to anyone for 10 hours a day. 12 hours if they put you on mandatory overtime. A manager there referred to working there like being in the military and I agree with their assessment. They are also very strict about leave. If you went 1 minute over your allotted paid or unpaid time off you were automatically fire by their hr system. |
Anonymous
Not true. Only if the job is regulated by the DOT. https://www.hrdive.com/news/why-amazons-updated-marijuana-drug-testing-policy-could-have-ripple-effec/603492/ |
Anonymous
| Knowing what you know, should people shop and support amazon? And if not, what are the alternatives? |
Anonymous
My understanding is Amazon is indeed working to automate most of this stuff and expects to replace most of these these human workers with machines in the next 2-3 years. Interesting, I suppose, in that on the one hand, people lament the tough working conditions and low wages, but on the other, if automated, there will be no human jobs at all . . . better to have a crummy job than no job? |
Anonymous
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What is the process for using the restroom?
What is the breakroom like? Any freebies like soup, coffee, hot chocolate? Do you have to have your bags and body searched upon coming and going to work? |
Anonymous
You get a 30 minute lunch and 2 15 minute paid breaks. Technically you could take as many bathroom breaks as you wanted but the unspoken rule was to only go when you were on break because it would cut into your pick rate ( if you are bottom 5% they fire you). You were not allowed to be in the break room except for your allotted break time and could only have water on the warehouse floor. The breaks and lunch start as soon as they call it. The warehouse is large and you must walk to the lunch/break room which really cut into your time and you were expected to start working the minute the break/lunch was over basically leaving you with a 20 minute lunch and a 5 minute break. |
Anonymous
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I worked in a shift work place in school. It is hard work. I was also amazed at amount of adults trying to make a full time living.
One couple with two kids the wife worked midnight to 8 am and his wife same place 8 am to 4 pm. They had one car and they drop and pick each other up. We had a five minute grace at start and end of shift so that is when the pickup drop up would occur. Another guy worked 7-3 one job and 8-midnight our job. Had an old 1970s van with bed and would sleep in it in lunch breaks. He was working 16 hours a day no OT Took me five years to graduate college so I did it a long time. It is a hard life. My weird issue (please don’t laugh) every girl at work 18-21 wanted to marry me. I dated a beautiful girl for one year I met through work. Sister of my supervisor. Literally looked like a young Christie Brinkley. So you ask how did she end up like this. Well she dropped of HS at 15. Was unemployed other than babysitting neighbors kids. Lived in a run down small apt in a blue collar area with her obese mom who worked in Woolworth’s. Her Dad who barely mumbled who was a zombie night guard who was asleep all day. Her overweight sister who got pregnant twice out of wedlock at 20 by some large older black man I swears was a bookie or drug dealer. And another sister on and off at home who reminded me of Ginny in Forest Gump. It was an insane house. I literally go over there during day at 20 between classes and have sex and watch TV and no one cared. I met so many normal young people not in college from screwed up backgrounds. |
Anonymous
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Do you wear gloves?
Are people working in close proximity to each other? (Risk of catching something) Do people get yelled at? (Stressful work situation) Is there a 401k? |
Anonymous
You can just go to the bathroom but must scan in/out of your station. The problem with bathroom breaks is it cuts into your pick or work time. Your rate is tracked and if you are too slow you’re fired. No freebies except for vending machine coffee and pedialyte ice pops (because they don’t want people passing out from dehydrated) in the break room and this goes back to a core tenet they preach which is frugality. The lunch room looks like a high school lunch room without a cafeteria. There are drink vending machines, junk food (chips, energy bars, cookies, candy etc) and some very suspect looking salads and sandwiches available for purchase. There is no hot food available and they are definitely making money on their junk food. A Luna bar is $4 there and a bottle of water was $2. Only thing I bought during my time there. I was told they used to have food trucks come but they felt it was a distraction and took too long for people to get their food so they banned them from coming. Your bags are only searched upon leaving not entering. They are not concerned about worker security as much as they are concerned that you may steal something. |
Anonymous
Yes you were gloves and you get 3 pairs a week provided at no cost. You are in close proximity to other workers. I imagine COVID was hell for them. They do offer a 4% matching 401k via Fidelity. People don’t get yelled at they just get fired and escorted out. They very much believe in that Jack Welch fire the lowest performing workers mentality. |
Anonymous
| Wear gloves*** |
Anonymous
I would say to find another alternative but quite frankly nearly everything you buy online is coming out with of a warehouse. Whether the conditions there are any better I have no clue. I would say Amazon can and should do better for its workers. They claim they are Earths most customer centric company. Their customers should demand better conditions for their workers and then maybe Amazon will do better for them because it’s what the customers are demanding. |
Anonymous
| So you did this during vacation? How did you line up vacation to the hiring process? |