Happy New Year!!

Our final checks from Amazon have been deposited, so it is time for our final post for the season!  Our 12 week fitness plan turned into 13 weeks, as we worked right up until 5:00pm on December 23rd.  This was the latest we worked for Amazon in our three years.  We really did not mind putting in an additional 30 hours.  Our goal of “fatter wallet, slimmer waist” was definitely accomplished this year at SDF-8 in Jeffersonville, IN.

FATTER WALLET

Amazon pays Camperforce employees $10.75/hour, plus your campsite (including electric) in full.  Our total gross pay this season was $15,771.29 for the two of us, which includes our end of season bonus.  This year, we received $1.00/hour for every regular hour and $1.50/hour for every overtime hour that we worked.  We worked every overtime day that was available, except one.

In addition to the pay, we also received $600.00 in Visa gift cards for working three 59 1/2  weeks.  We ended up with $30 in Vendor Bucks, which we cashed out for quarters for laundry.  This will cover a months worth of laundry for us.

We each earned 5 points from “fast starts”, which we used to obtain $5 Applebees gift cards.  They were awarding weekly points if you made your first pick within one minute of when break ended, and within 10 minutes after start up in the morning and after lunch.

I was able to win a $50 Amazon gift card from a picking contest, and a Kindle FireHD 6 for a weekly perfect attendance drawing.  So overall, the extra perks this year were pretty nice for us.

END OF SEASON PARTY

We were pleasantly surprised when our end of season wrap up meeting turned into a little party.  They had provided us with a catered meal from Qdoba, and raffled off three Kindle Fire HD 6 for our group.  The party was on Tuesday the 22nd, and several people were hoping they would release us after the party.  But we did have to go back to work, and work a full 10 hour day on the 23rd.  The general manager was present, and said they will spend some time in the off-season re-evaluating the Camperforce program in Jeffersonville.  He stated they will not have it next year, but maybe in the future.  We would go back to Jeffersonville if they did offer the program again at their center.

SLIMMER WAIST

This year I used a Fitbit Flex, which is the model that clips on to your waist.  I ended up walking a total of 659.30 miles during the 13 weeks of work, averaging about 11 miles per day.   Some days we would have a good pick path, and “only” walk about 8 miles a day.  Dan lost a total of 11 pounds (and is down over 40 pounds since we first started Amazon three years ago), and I ended up losing 12 1/2 pounds.  The hard part now, is keeping that weight off!

WHAT NEXT?

We are currently in Mims, Florida for the next three months.  Our first 5 days of overtime paid for our site, and the gift cards will pay for our groceries.  We hope to hook up with some friends in the area, and make a couple of trips to Walt Disney World before our Florida resident passes expire at the end of the month.  We are not planning on renewing the passes this year, as we want to visit some other attractions.

Quote for the day:  “I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world.  You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself.  Make New Mistakes.  Make glorious, amazing mistakes.  Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before.  Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is:  art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do It.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.” – Neil Gaiman