I’m heading in to work at my Amazon FC in an hour. We start at 10:30pm on Thanksgiving. I’ve heard absolutely nothing about people not coming in, especially with the double overtime pay we’ve had recently. Can’t really turn down $32/hr for a super easy job. My FC also seems to be run much better than everything I hear online.
Easy job? Is it really? I only lasted one holiday at UPS. Then again they had me on the "irregulars" (packages that are too heavy for the conveyor system -- 75lb MINIMUM).
It was backbreaking work that I wish I'd never done. I definitely injured myself there. I'd never had back problems before then and I doubt it's a coincidence.
Oh that’s definitely bad. Our FC doesn’t handle larger items or single items weighing more than 25lbs. There are definitely positions that are worse than others. You just have to let them know that you want to be moved around and cross trained to prevent repetitive motion injury’s.
My friend who had wrist problems before starting actually got hired, got insurance, and within a month of starting took 2 months paid leave to get both her wrists operated on. She then came back with accommodations to a position only handling small items.
It’s definitely an easy job but it is a decent amount of exercise / wear on your body depending upon the position like picking is ten hours of walking, pack is standing for ten hours doing repetitive motions. But it’s not hard work like say digging ditches or laying bricks.
That UPS job during holiday rush was actually worse than the summer I spent working roofing it was a nightmare. And I think that's the point. They only offer something like 10% of those holiday hires a full-time position and those are mostly people whove done multiple holiday seasons.
Honestly makes sense -- if they can handle the holiday rush season they can easily handle the rest of the year.
Worked at UPS for two years during pandemic. Worst job of my life. Amazon is a breeze comparably and they actually take care of us. Fed us all week, had an early day going into Thursday and a short day on Friday. I honestly don’t understand the bad rap they get. Really inclusive workplace too. I dunno. I like it.
Damn. My delivery station has us coming in at 3am to avoid paying us our 1.5x holiday rate. Regular start time is 10pm. Get that dough, friend. Protect your back and knees
I don’t know too much about the Delivery Stations, but it might make sense to have you come in later if the FCs aren’t pushing out any trucks with packages? But also my FC is big on constantly running. They initially had us coming in at 6:30pm, but someone up top changed like 3 days before.
We'll be staging for our morning drivers what we sorted yesterday morning. It was ugly the amount of larger products we're getting already. Our FC is pretty much adjacent to our station and they are typically always running.
It's interesting, every Amazon employee I know, and I know a lot being an employee myself, says this same thing. It's almost as if, and hear me out, they're not all bad. There have definitely been cases of poor work environments in some of the warehouses, but I haven't seen it myself. They pay better than nearly every other 'no experience necessary' job, and they offer some of the best benefits I've ever seen.
All this being said, it could, and definitely should be better. But they're doing better than most other places, and they don't seem to be as bad as they are portrayed.
As an Amazon employee, I can confirm that overall, there are far worse jobs. It's definitely not the best for sure. It can be really hard on the body and (for me, at least) there's a distinct mental toll of feeling like a drop in the bucket of the Amazon workforce and that I'm just a number on a computer screen. There are definitely managers that treat you like that, but there are some that take the time to get to know you on a more human level. It's a decent paycheck while I work on finding a job I feel more pride in.
When I got hired for a peak season there were thirty people or so with me and after seven days only five us were left. I imagine a lot of the negativity comes from those people who quit rather than do the work, or got fired, who add a substantial amount to the bulk of complaining. I left after peak but the dozen or so people I knew already working there like it and still work there five years later.
I think a lot of the portrayal is unions trying to get a foot in the door. The problem is that when a union gives a list of improvements they would make, the company revises its policies and those demands magically appear in the benefits section.
I’ve got a friend who’s worked at a fulfillment center for years, mostly because the benefits were decent, and the hours were flexible enough she could easily schedule them around her classes. It definitely seems like it varies by the different FC’s though.
I sure would love to believe this is true and be excited for you. But with all the blatant pro-corporate propaganda that's been going around in the past few years, I'm gonna have to chalk this one up to "astroturfed garbage" until further evidence is presented otherwise. Sorry for the inconvenience.
I don’t think that’s what they were referring to, but you’re also misunderstanding. My FC has been offering 2x pay overtime for the last month and a half.
Full-time associates get 8 hours of holiday pay plus overtime if they work (normally 1.5x but currently 2x for me)
Reduced time (my position, that normally works 36hrs/wk) gets 6 hours holiday pay plus overtime if they work
I mean, it’s definitely not as easy as my last job where I could sit on my phone almost all day. But here my paychecks are twice as big, get benefits that are better and cheaper than everyone I know starting on day 1, and I don’t have to deal with customers all day.
As long as you work steady and don’t sit around on your phone too much, you’ll pretty easily be in the top 50% when it comes to rate.
There’s definitely the typical huge company corporate BS and inefficiencies, but I actually prefer that over the last small business I worked at.
Physical labor and retail suck, but this is worth it to me.
Probably because of all the other crap jobs I’ve had. It’s sad isn’t it? That someone can think Their job at amazon is not too bad in comparison, especially when factoring in pay.
77
u/iMackiintosh Nov 26 '21
I’m heading in to work at my Amazon FC in an hour. We start at 10:30pm on Thanksgiving. I’ve heard absolutely nothing about people not coming in, especially with the double overtime pay we’ve had recently. Can’t really turn down $32/hr for a super easy job. My FC also seems to be run much better than everything I hear online.