28 Football Fields, Red Yeti, Black Friday, and KingFish

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Well, Week 3 of everything Amazon is in the bag! Next week we transition from 4 days to 5 days a week. The whole warehouse is on 11 hour days, and starting at 6:30 am as of Black Friday, but the extra hour is optional for workcampers. Last weekend was our last 3 day weekend, so like crazy people on Monday, our middle day off, we went back to the Amazon Fulfillment Center!
 

Our campsite surrounded by other Amazon Camperforce folks

We were offered a tour, so we gathered with their PR person and another half dozen workcampers and took an hour and a half stroll through the huge warehouse. Cameras, and cellphones are not allowed in the building past security, so there are no photos of the tour. We also had to sign a non-disclosure form before we started working there. Since we took the standard press tour I will fill you in on the basics.


Amazon SDF-8, our warehouse, covers 1.2 million square feet, with up to four levels on each end which house the products. (Note from Greg - the Amazon building is easy to find on the Google Earth or Google Maps satellite photos. It is much bigger than any other building in our area of Kentuckiana). The building is thermostatically controlled to be 75 degrees and very dry. It is the size of 28 football fields. Considered one of the 7^th generation of Amazon warehouses, the 8^th generation will cover 60 football fields and have robotics and possibly drones! It is huge! Their are over 30 million products stored here. In fact our plant just broke a worldwide record for having the most items. In our short 6 weeks here, Greg and I will have personally handled thousands of them.


There is an impressive system of conveyor belts rushing totes and boxes in and out of the building, with thousands of humans doing the jobs that fill those totes and boxes. We walk 10-15 miles a day, while many people in the other departments are stationary all day as they sort and pack. Single items are packed in a separate area from the multi pack items. That area is proprietary and we weren't allowed to view it.


The most fascinating stop on our tour was the imaging studio where the majority of the items that you see photos of on the Amazon webpages are photographed. The cameras, screens and lights facilitate 360 degree photos of each item that are computer manipulated to have perfect clarity and detail as you view them on your computer.


Our tour concluded and we took off to grocery shop. Got to keep enough calories around to fuel our busy days! We eat at our twice a day breaks and at lunch and then I try to throw together a healthy dinner at the end of an exhausting day. The last two weeks I made crockpot meals that provided two consecutive nights dinner. The other nights we relied on the old standbys of grilled cheese and scrambled eggs.


Tuesday we did laundry at the local laundromat that has free dryers! The washers are a little costlier than some places we've been, but cheaper than others. It's a nice clean place as well. Afterwards, since Greg would be working on Wednesday for his 60^th birthday, we drove into downtown Jeffersonville and had a late lunch at The Red Yeti Brewing Company. The food was top notch and we each had a decent local beer. Then we walked the block or so to the Ohio River and over to the park at the base of the old Big Four railroad bridge. The bridge has been turned into a walking and biking path with huge concrete ramps leading up to it and parks at the base on each side of the river. Lots of people were enjoying the sunny weather as they strolled or power walked back and forth from Jeffersonville, Indiana to Louisville, Kentucky. Greg and I declined to walk across. It's not like we never walk anymore!

Brisket sandwich and Stone IPA

Small vats for the locally brewed ales

Street art - Repurposed bicycle flower planter

Wednesday it was back to work for the lead-up to Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Thanksgiving there was a smaller crew scheduled, but we had been told that even though in the past employees had been let out early, we shouldn't expect it. There was a backlog due to a bomb threat Saturday night when everyone was sent home early. Thanksgiving was a very tiring day with some of us, (not Greg), being sent all over up and down and back and forth to the far ends for single or a few items before being relocated again. I stopped counting around 12 times I was moved and that was before lunch. At 2 pm we were all called off the floor and told that the backlog was caught up and we could go home early. The locals were happy, the workcampers, not so much. None of us had family nearby and we were making time and a half for the holiday. Losing four hours meant everyone was thrown into a shorter work week, which meant not enough hours to kick the rest of the week into overtime pay. Hmmm...

The ramp up to the Big 4 Bridge over the Ohio

The concrete Flood Wall - on the right, you get the view, on the left, you stay dry.

Looking across the Ohio at Louisville

Looking west along the Ohio River Scenic Byway

The Big 4 Bridge

The John F Kennedy Bridge (I-65) and, behind it, the Clark Memorial Bridge (US 31

The new sculpture showing the depth of flood waters in 1937

City Music Amphitheater with a floating stage

Waterfront park

Town ice rink

So, for Greg and I the compromise was to work the extra hour (for 11 hours) on Black Friday and Saturday that we had not planned on. We wound up with a 38 hour work week and a tough last hour those two days. Black Friday was hectic but not too bad. We had a 20 minute break mid-afternoon when we were shut down. Being too efficient, our department picked faster than packing could keep up with us, so they needed time to catch up. We were all joking that we “broke” Amazon! Saturday as we slogged along our new friends Lyle and Lynda suggested a drink and dinner at a local restaurant after work, so we said yes and wound up at the KingFish Restaurant on the waterfront. It was dark and raining so we only got glimpses of lit up Louisville across the river as we walked to the car. Also, we were in t-shirts and jeans and work shoes, and stinky bods from the hot warehouse, but did we care, no! It was great to sit and share dinner with new friends!


Today, Sunday, we slept in and chilled for the day. Tomorrow I have to get up early and drive Greg to Amazon. He is doing voluntary overtime the next three Mondays to boost his hours to 59 ½, the most we are allowed. He also gets a $100 VISA gift card each week. We can use that for diesel for the rig when we relocate. I will do laundry and groceries those days. I know myself well enough to know I can't push it that hard. This week is our first 5 day week, so I need to adjust to that!


Adios for now! Here comes Week 4!