campers-help-amazon
Campers help Amazon keep up with holiday rush
Forum Discussion
I did Campbellsville in 2010.
Yes, they DO pay overtime for all hours worked over 40 per week. Back then there was no incentive bonus at the end for every hour worked, it was a flat rate of about five hundred bucks which the gubmit took their (un)fair share.
The contract back then was from whatever start date you were assigned until Christmas eve. On the last shift the workcamper supervisors came around and offered anyone that wanted to stay on until late January... if they wanted. I opted to leave on Christmas Morning.
I heard from several workcampers that had been there before that in years past there was mandatory overtime. This was not imposed the year I worked as apparently there were too many complaints about it so all overtime for my section (in-processing) was optional. I heard there were a couple of departments where some overtime was mandatory but do not recall which ones... Maybe it was pickers, but not stowers or us.
When I was there it was the first year that Amazon handled everything on their own. Apparently they had contracted it out in years past so they were still testing the waters in many ways. Things ran fairly smoothly, the regular staff were VERY good to us and treated us VERY well.
I made mention of that to one regular staffer and she told me that were it not for us being there they would all be on mandatory 60 hour work-weeks and not have ANY time off so with us there hey were able to have a little more time off with their own families. They seemed appreciative that we were there and that we worked as hard as we did.
As mentioned... GOOD SHOES are a MUST! You also want an ample supply of OTC pain meds for those aching joints and muscles. After a few days on regular shift you will really need them.
Generally people took their bathroom breaks during the regular break cycles. Of course if you need to go then you went and no one said anything about it. I actually got scolded because I took a bathroom break in between scheduled regular breaks and then worked in to the regular break to make up for it. NOT allowed... You WILL go on break with everyone else and if you need to use the bathroom any other time then do it and don't worry about it!
Lunch break is thirty minutes. Apparently there had been similar complaints in the past years that there were not enough conveniently located time clocks. At our facility they placed three right at the production floor entry door in the back of the plant, three at the production floor entry door at the front of the plant and one in an area shared by us and the stowers and several in key locations around the production floor. I never noticed any backup at the time clocks.
Ecommercebytes newsletter is an online newsletter covering internet commerce. They recently featured a series of stories written by a workcamper at Amazon this year. One of his complaints was the security screening process at the end of the shift.
As I recall it was not all that bad and did not normally take a half hour as he reported. It DID take some time but so did getting out of the paring lot. Nothing different than any other major factory job.
Thetravelingcooler wrote: If your willing to work, do what they ask, like not having to pay rent for your spot, an bank the cash..it's a good job.
This is very true. If you keep in mind that you are there to do a job for a short time to bulk up your finances and move on then you will be fine. If you start acting like you can do things better than their way then you will have troubles. If you forget why you are there and start acting like this is your career and YOUR plant and YOUR department then you WILL NOT LAST LONG!
Best thing is to go there, work as hard as you can, earn all the money you can, do what you are told, do not be a smart-alec (as I detected the writer in the Ecommercebytes article is) and do your JOB and maintain a positive attitude then you will do just fine, have a good time, get to know some really nice people (full time and woorkcamer) and leave with a sense of accomplishment and a pocket full of dough!
Yes, they DO pay overtime for all hours worked over 40 per week. Back then there was no incentive bonus at the end for every hour worked, it was a flat rate of about five hundred bucks which the gubmit took their (un)fair share.
The contract back then was from whatever start date you were assigned until Christmas eve. On the last shift the workcamper supervisors came around and offered anyone that wanted to stay on until late January... if they wanted. I opted to leave on Christmas Morning.
I heard from several workcampers that had been there before that in years past there was mandatory overtime. This was not imposed the year I worked as apparently there were too many complaints about it so all overtime for my section (in-processing) was optional. I heard there were a couple of departments where some overtime was mandatory but do not recall which ones... Maybe it was pickers, but not stowers or us.
When I was there it was the first year that Amazon handled everything on their own. Apparently they had contracted it out in years past so they were still testing the waters in many ways. Things ran fairly smoothly, the regular staff were VERY good to us and treated us VERY well.
I made mention of that to one regular staffer and she told me that were it not for us being there they would all be on mandatory 60 hour work-weeks and not have ANY time off so with us there hey were able to have a little more time off with their own families. They seemed appreciative that we were there and that we worked as hard as we did.
As mentioned... GOOD SHOES are a MUST! You also want an ample supply of OTC pain meds for those aching joints and muscles. After a few days on regular shift you will really need them.
Generally people took their bathroom breaks during the regular break cycles. Of course if you need to go then you went and no one said anything about it. I actually got scolded because I took a bathroom break in between scheduled regular breaks and then worked in to the regular break to make up for it. NOT allowed... You WILL go on break with everyone else and if you need to use the bathroom any other time then do it and don't worry about it!
Lunch break is thirty minutes. Apparently there had been similar complaints in the past years that there were not enough conveniently located time clocks. At our facility they placed three right at the production floor entry door in the back of the plant, three at the production floor entry door at the front of the plant and one in an area shared by us and the stowers and several in key locations around the production floor. I never noticed any backup at the time clocks.
Ecommercebytes newsletter is an online newsletter covering internet commerce. They recently featured a series of stories written by a workcamper at Amazon this year. One of his complaints was the security screening process at the end of the shift.
As I recall it was not all that bad and did not normally take a half hour as he reported. It DID take some time but so did getting out of the paring lot. Nothing different than any other major factory job.
Thetravelingcooler wrote: If your willing to work, do what they ask, like not having to pay rent for your spot, an bank the cash..it's a good job.
This is very true. If you keep in mind that you are there to do a job for a short time to bulk up your finances and move on then you will be fine. If you start acting like you can do things better than their way then you will have troubles. If you forget why you are there and start acting like this is your career and YOUR plant and YOUR department then you WILL NOT LAST LONG!
Best thing is to go there, work as hard as you can, earn all the money you can, do what you are told, do not be a smart-alec (as I detected the writer in the Ecommercebytes article is) and do your JOB and maintain a positive attitude then you will do just fine, have a good time, get to know some really nice people (full time and woorkcamer) and leave with a sense of accomplishment and a pocket full of dough!
