Jeff Bezos Must Think we're Robots
Pros
Full time benefits- PTO (Paid Time Off), Vacation time, health insurance coverage
Cons
Too much emphasis on pick rate, not enough on safety There was too much focus on pick rate. I get that we have to pick 120 units per hour in order to get the orders out on time, but do you have to remind me every time my rate is low? Just leave me alone and let me do my job. Damn. And every time my rate was low, I always got mad at myself which made me focus on that rather than the task at hand. Also, I didn't like that they started ranking us from the picker with the highest rate to the picker with the lowest rate. Is this a competition? TOT TOT stands for Time Off Task. They calculate TOT from the time you finish a pick to the next time you finish a pick, so if, for instance, you use the washroom. This will not only affect your rate, but your TOT, also. I get it. The less time you spend picking, the less productive you are. I didn't like that everything was timed. Maybe I'm a little salty because ultimately, TOT was what got me fired, but who's to know? Short Lunch Break Another thing I didn't like was that the lunch break was too short. As a full timer you get a full 30 minute lunch break. FULL 30 MINUTES. Had to make sure the people in the back heard me. By the time I've used the washroom, checked my blood sugar and made my lunch, I have a FULL 15 MINUTES to eat and relax. I know that blood sugar part was personal, but still not enough time for a break. Bottom line, I think the break could've at least been 45 minutes. Long Hours As a full timer, I worked from 5a.m. - 4:30p.m., with the exception of two 15 minute breaks, and a 30 minute break in which we had to clock in and out of. So, all in all I worked 10.5 hours. As you'd imagine, at the end of the day I'm exhausted and my feet hurt. Physically Demanding This is a very physically demanding job. Depending on your schedule, you're on your feet for 5-10 hours. Plus, you have to bend, ascend and descend a latter (as as a full timer who's only 5'2", I was on a ladder at least 50 times a day), push a cart and sometimes lift heavy grocery bags. As a picker, you have to move pretty fast. Combine that with being in ambient (it's 70 degrees in there) and you'd swear you're in a cardio class. I'd be sweating bullets in there. It was not pretty. Having to Work in Different Temperatures Amazon fresh has three different picking areas: Chilled, Ambient and Frozen, however they combine these areas to make mixed batches: there's Chilled Ambient, Frozen Chilled and Frozen Ambient. This means that you might have to go from the freezing cold to room temperature in a matter of 30 minutes. I've gotten sick several times from having to do this.
