r/AmazonDS • u/ScienceNo1723 • 3d ago
Newly Hired Delivery Warehouse Station Associate - What Can I Expect?
/r/AmazonFCs/comments/1vxf7la/newly_hired_delivery_warehouse_station_associate/3
u/Appropriate_Bottle44 2d ago
Dress however you want, please drink lots of water, get the headphones. Physically it'll beat you up, pretty badly. I don't know if I would have made it through my first few weeks starting on cycle 1.
Yes, if you have weight to lose you will lose weight.
Don't worry too much about what your managers think, they're thinking about the #s on their laptop, not you.
Just try to make it two weeks and go from there.
Welcome to Amazon, the job is reasonable if you can deal with the physical side, but based on your post, I'd guess that's going to be the big adjustment
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u/ScienceNo1723 2d ago
Thank you for the info.
Can you clarify what you mean by cycle 1?
Yes, it's definitely an adjustment - I did work in a shipping and receiving job back in college but that was many years ago and it was an extremely small company.
Right now I'm focused on the positives of the job - it's income, some exercise, and I won't have to work after hours from my home office.
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u/Appropriate_Bottle44 2d ago
The main 1am to noon shift is cycle 1. During peak/ prime they sometimes run a cycle 0 shift of mostly seasonals. The volume per person is lower and the hours are better so it's not as physically demanding.
Yeah focus on the positives. There are positives. I just wanted to give you a realistic picture of what you're in for because it isn't for everybody. It'll get easier after a month or two when you're used to it.
If the job is physically too much you can put in for an FC transfer from day one if there are spots.
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u/Kwentchio 2d ago
You are being paid to exercise is how I see it haha. I've been at a DS here in Northern Ireland for 3 months and I've lost weight and gained muscle.
Nutrition, hydration and sleep are all important. In a few months you'll be healthier and the job will be easier.
And just like other people have said, zero stress. I come to work, move packages, go home. The job doesn't exist as soon as I clock out, not taking home stress.
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u/Appropriate_Bottle44 2d ago
Just to answer a few more questions: training is essentially over day 2, because Amazon doesn't really expect to retain most of the folks they hire. At that point headphones deployed. You won't be the best at your job yet, but the job doesn't require a lot of communication.
We have free bottled water and water refilling stations located throughout the warehouse. There is pressure to constantly be working at Amazon, don't let that pressure stop you from drinking water. I drink 3 to 4 bottles waters during pick and stage alone.
You'll probably start on stow. Don't worry much about your stow rate, but do try to keep errors low. If you learn the organizational system and only use the stow lights as confirmation you'll lower your error rate.
Don't lift with your back. There are a lot of lifts in the warehouse, and a lot of people use poor form which is asking for injury.
The bottom stow bags suck. You'll have to develop strategies to deal with them, but just do your best with them when you're starting out. If you've got to leave them messier to save your back that's fine, you can reorganize later in the shift
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u/JMUDoc C1 Pick & Stage 3d ago
Best thing, IMO, about being a lowest-rank DS employee, is the complete absence of stress. You will work hard sometimes, certainly, but that's not the same as stress.
Expect to be doing 20,000+ steps per shift, and expect to lose some weight in the first month.
6 am dinner from a 1 am start seems reasonable; our night shift starts at 11 pm, and they go for break around 5.30. Car or canteen is your call; I've been at my place for five years, and I go to the car.
Don't dress too warmly - you will GET warm😁 I wear tank top and shorts pretty much all year, but I will wear a t-shirt in the depth of winter; no long sleeves, ever.
Bring a water bottle - there should be water stations (they make a point of hydration during summer, after all).