We have arrived at our destination…

Posted on May 23, 2016 by liv2rv

…for the summer in the Grand Tetons. After several months of relaxing, it is time to get back to work! We are both ready to go for the summer. Before I get into our summer jobs, I will do a little catching up, since it has been 2 months since I last posted. Now that we are back to work, I promise to update the blog more.

We left Florida at the end of March, when it had started to get hot and humid, and made a bee-line to Elkhart, Indiana to have some routine maintenance work done on the fifth wheel. Tiara RV was able to squeeze us in, and we would recommend them for service on fifth wheels and travel trailers if you are ever in the area.

Our next stop was “Camp Meyer” (Dan’s sister and brother-in-laws house). It’s Makena’s favorite “campground” and once again she was very excited when we let her out of the truck. We parked there for about 5 weeks, while visiting friends/family and taking care of routine medical/dental visits and truck maintenance. As usual, there is never enough time to visit with everyone, and we hope to see those we missed this fall.

Several trips were made to Oconto Falls, to visit Dan’s parents. His dad has made remarkable progress in his recovery from guillain-barré syndrome. Dan was able to take him out golfing, and Makena convinced the ‘grandparents’ that she needed to walk and play multiple times every day. Grandparents are such easy targets! We also played many games of ‘hand and foot’, and provided some iPad ‘tech support’.

Dan’s parents

We had a few nice visits down in the Milwaukee area with friends and family, in between our appointments. Our good friends Dave and Angie had us over for an excellent BBQ, and Mike and Karlyn took us out for a fun night on the town. We also had a delicious Cinco de Mayo dinner with college friends Robin and Mary (forgot to bring the camera).

My brother Brian, and sister-in-law Annette had us over for a visit, and we were able to take advantage of some nice weather to get in a short hike in the Kettle Moraine Forest, along with a climb to the top of the fire tower.

Brian, Dan and Annette

We stayed at my sister Margie and brother-in-law Greg’s house for a few days, and had a nice time catching up with them, as they are temporary ’empty nesters’ with my nieces both away at college. Dan and Greg snuck out for a local beer tasting, and seemed to have a good time!

Cheers from Greg!

I was also able to get together for my annual “patio beer” with a former co-worker, Amy.

Patio Beers! It’s always nice to catch up with family and friends, but we had only a limited amount of time, before beginning our journey west. First stop: Des Moines, Iowa. We were able to attend the Drake University College of Pharmacy Hooding Ceremony. After 6 years, Jasmine received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree, along with about 105 other students in the program. During the ceremony, her father Gary (Dan’s brother) leaned over towards me and said “We now have a Dr. J in the family!” I think he’s been waiting 6 years to say that!! I’m not sure what he was happier about: the fact Jasmine is now a doctor, or the fact that he no longer has anymore college tuition to pay for, as all three daughters are finished with school!

Congrats Dr. J

No More Tuition!

While we were in Des Moines, we were able to meet up with fellow RV’er Linda Clayton for dinner. She will be workcamping for the summer at a campground in northern Wisconsin. It was nice to catch up with a fellow Amazonian! I don’t take selfies, so the picture is not very good! When Linda and I were both Picking together at Amazon, people insisted we were sisters.We left Iowa and continued West through Nebraska and up into Wyoming towards Grand Teton National Park. We will be spending the summer at Luton’s Teton Cabins in Moran, WY. I will do a separate post in a week or two on our specific jobs and perks. If you want to see what the cabins look like, or follow along on a live web cam of the Grand Tetons, you can click on the link above.

We found this job courtesy of our friends Karen and Al, whom we will be working with this summer. We have not been doing too much exploring yet, as I have been battling a bad cold, and the weather has been a bit chilly (27 degrees this morning!). Today it alternated between sunshine and snow flurries which is typical Spring weather for Wyoming!

Our drive into the Tetons was interesting. Nothing like a snowstorm in late May!

I did manage to plant some basil, cilantro and a container tomato plant. They were outside for 2 days, and have been sitting inside the RV the past couple of days. It should warm up next week, so hopefully they will start perking up a bit with some sunshine.

My summer garden

The big pot was a gift from our former neighbors, The Kierzek’s. They have four wonderful kids, and they used their thumb and finger prints to create designs on the pot. Thanks again Adam, Faith, Josh and Ben!! (and Kyle and Jolie too!) Hopefully with all the love that went into the pot, it will help produce some good tomatoes this summer!

Stay tuned, more frequent blog posts to follow! And as always, thank you for following along on our adventures!

Quote for the Day: “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis

I’m a senior now!

Posted on March 20, 2016 by liv2rv

Hello Everyone! Your favorite dog blogger is back!

Keeping my peeps informed!

Today is my 9^th Birthday! I am officially a “senior” now!!

First off, I want to say how happy I am that my grandpa Stu continues to get better and stronger every day! We share the same date of birth, 70 years apart, so we have a special bond. Happy 79^th Birthday Grampa Stu! I said lots of prayers that he would get better, because I really enjoy going for walks with him. He is a fast walker, and I have a need for speed!

Keeping my peeps informed!

The last two years, we have been able to get together for our birthday, and have treats and presents. This year they were unable to make it down to Florida, so cake will have to wait!

2 years ago

However I did get some treats and presents. My mom went all out and put everything in a brown paper bag….but it is what’s inside that matters to me! I love opening gifts. Once again, I received a multi-squeaker toy…my favorite! I promptly ripped out 4 squeakers, and then took a nap! (after all, I am a senior now…wonder if I will be getting fed earlier ….?!)

the toy destroyer!

Yay! 16 squeakers!

a senior nap

My parents have not been up to much, which works for me. That means I don’t have to spend long days all by myself. My mom gets up early to exercise, so I get up as well, and fling toys by her feet. She has to stop and throw the balls out of the way, so I get about 30 minutes of exercise as well! Keeps us both in shape! My parents have also been taking me on daily walks, but this RV Park is small, so I get bored going in circles. Plus, this year there are a lot of other dogs here, which I don’t like.

getting my exercise

It has rained a lot this year in Florida, which has caused a lot of mounds of fire ants around the park. They keep biting me, and I keep ending up getting baths, because of all the itching it has caused. Now my parents have put the ‘cone of shame’ on me, to try and keep me from scratching. I hate it, but they promised not to put it on outside, so the other dogs won’t make fun of me!

Cone of Shame!

When it is sunny, I take advantage of the warmth on my belly. And I get some Vitamin D! That’s good for dogs too, right?!

I guess we will be leaving Florida in about a week, and heading back to Wisconsin to visit Grandma and Grandpa. I will miss the warmer weather, but I am ready to continue on in our adventures, and add some more states to my chart of the states I have pooped and peed in!

what happened to TN?

Take care everyone, and Happy Spring!

Quote for the day: “Dogs have boundless enthusiasm, but no sense of shame. I should have a dog as a life coach.” – Moby

Just getting caught up

Posted on February 21, 2016 by liv2rv

Wow, I didn’t realize it has been over a month since I last posted. We have been in a ‘holding status’ down here in Florida. About 6 weeks ago, Dan’s father stated his legs felt weak, and his mom took him to the local hospital, which then told him to go to the hospital in Green Bay, Wisconsin. As the day progressed, his weakness continued to worsen, and spread to his arms as well. By the end of the day, he was essentially paralyzed, as he had no movement in his extremities.

He was admitted to the hospital, and several tests were run. After a few days, he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and auto-immune disorder. The doctors suspect this may have been a reaction to the flu vaccination that he received. After 5 days of intravenous administration of high-dose immunoglobulin therapy, his nerves began to regenerate, which was a very painful experience for him. He was transferred to the inpatient rehabilitation center at the hospital, and received 3 hours of daily physical and occupational therapy, and has slowly regained the use of his extremities. Between the excellent therapists, and the fact that his dad is very competitive, he has made a remarkable recovery. After 30 days of inpatient rehabilitation, he had progressed from no movement, to a wheelchair and finally to a walker.

He was discharged home, and continues making remarkable progress with outpatient therapy. Currently he is using a cane, but has been walking small distances with no assistance. The prognosis is for a full recovery! Dan was able to fly back to Wisconsin and visit his dad in the hospital, and get some chores done around the house for his mom. We had discussed winterizing the 5th wheel and returning back to Wisconsin, but they kept telling us to wait. The reason we stay in Scottsmoor, Florida is to be close to the condo that they rent out in New Smyrna Beach. They continued to be optimistic that they would return to Florida, and felt if we came back to Wisconsin, they would not get down to Florida. Time will tell if they will be able to make it down for a visit. We will be here through March 27th. One thing that helped out in his fathers recovery, is the fact he is very active, walking two miles every day prior to this illness. The doctors stated his good health contributed to his quick recovery. Taking care of our bodies now, can pay big dividends later.

Lots of visitors

Mom, nephew Kyle, Dad and Dan

ODDS AND ENDS

We did manage a few visits to Walt Disney World, before our Florida resident pass that we bought last year expired. In addition to the usual cast of characters roaming around, they are now heavily promoting Star Wars, with storm troopers roaming around the grounds.

In addition to meeting up with our friends Karen and Al at Disney, we were able to have a nice lunch with friends Forrest and Mary in Orlando, Dick and Cheryl in Cocoa and watched the Super Bowl with Tom and Ellen. It’s always nice to be able to catch up with friends that you have not seen in months. Unfortunately, I did not take any photos:(

Our neighbors in this RV park found a NuWave Pro Induction Oven at a rummage sale, and let me borrow it for a few days. I know a few RV’ers who have these, and love them. I was impressed by the “as seen on TV” oven, and may consider purchasing one. It did a great job with cookies. It uses less electricity than the convection oven, and cooked them in about half the time.

DSC03572 (1)

DSC03574 (1)

The weather this year in Florida has been a bit cool, and the three month extended forecast is continued below average temperatures. The Midwest forecast is for above average temperatures, so we may leave Florida and venture north after March 27th. We will play things by ear, but we would like to get back to Wisconsin and spend some time with Dan’s parents, before our summer workcamping job.

Quote for the Day: “Looking after my health today gives me a better hope for tomorrow.” – Anne Wilson Schaef

Amazon – season wrap-up

Posted on January 3, 2016 by liv2rv

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

Amazon – 3 days to go!!!

Posted on December 20, 2015 by liv2rv

We received our official notice that Wednesday, December 23rd will be our last day at Amazon. At first we thought we would be done on Tuesday, because they are having a party for us Tuesday afternoon. But then our Camperforce HR person said she is off Wednesday, and that is why our party is the day before. As such, we did sign up for voluntary work on Monday, so we will have three 10 hour days this week. We decided against doing the 11 hour days, since we would not be getting any overtime. And it is nice to see daylight when we leave work, instead of arriving in the dark, and leaving in the dark. Makena also likes it because she gets a chance to play football outside while it is still light out!

We are actually happy to go all the way to the 23rd, as this continues our goal of ‘fatter wallet, slimmer waist’! Tuesday December 22 is the last day for guaranteed 2 day delivery, so we expect Wednesday to be very busy.

MAKING HISTORY…AGAIN

The center has been super busy, continuing to set records this past week. Once again, we set a new all-time picking record on our shift, picking 387,000 units! And we had back-to-back days where both first and second shift picked over 700,000 units. Seems like a lot of people will be getting flannel pajamas, bathrobes, socks and underwear for Christmas!

MORE PERKS

We continue to earn ‘vendor bucks’ and have received $27.00 so far, which we promptly cashed out in quarters (free laundry!). I am glad they removed the metal detectors, so I don’t have to empty my pockets!

We have also completed all three 59 1/2 hour weeks, so we have earned a total of $600.00 in Visa gift cards! It was a long stretch, not sure if we would do that again.

In addition, I was shocked when I heard my name announced as one of the three weekly winners of the perfect attendance drawing. I received a Kindle Fire HD 6 tablet. I can’t tell you anything about it, as I have not had time to do anything with it, other than opening up the box and making sure it was not broken. That will be a project for January.

LAST YEAR FOR CAMPERFORCE AT SDF-8

In addition to telling us about our party and last day, they also advised they will not have another Camperforce program at SDF-8 in Jeffersonville, IN. The operations manager has stated we are just too small to make that much of an impact at their center. After 3 years, they have finally been able to hire and retain enough full-time staff to fill their needs, with supplementing temporary staff during Peak.

He did mention another location that would be a better fit for a Camperforce site, as that location is more rural, and has a hard time getting staff. We hope they look into pursuing this location, as we would certainly consider applying to that location (since nothing is official, I won’t mention the location). Several full-time Amazon employees that we talked to were disappointed about the cancelling of the program. They said ‘every one of you works hard’ and ‘you folks make work fun’ is the common comments that I heard. So even though we don’t make a significant impact with management, we certainly do with the employees.

Five Camperforce employees will be staying on and converting to full-time Amazon employees after our release. They will continue to live in their RV’s although Amazon will not be paying for their campsite. Each has their own reasons for doing so, and we wish them well.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Normally, Amazon pays for your campsite one day after your release day. But for whatever reason, the arrangement here was month to month, based on your start date. So our campsite is paid up through 12/27. Since the weather will be in the 60’s this week (the weather has been great all season), we have decided to take advantage of our free site and stay a few extra days, instead of traveling Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We are tired, and plan on resting up a few days, before our 900 mile trip to warm and sunny Florida.

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and safe travels if you will be out visiting friends and family over the holidays!

We will miss seeing our family and friends, but perhaps they can come visit or face time/skype us? (hint, hint)

Quote for the day: “One week at Amazon, is like a month at any other job.” – Jim, a fellow carpooler and Camperforce employee

Amazon – will it ever end?

Posted on December 14, 2015 by liv2rv

We are just beginning week 12, and we still do not have an end date yet. When you sign up for Amazon Camperforce, you agree to work until 12/23. That is the last date they will keep you working. The past 2 years, we were out around the 2oth. This year, we have been speculating that 12/19 will be our last day, since it is the end of the work week (Wed – Saturday).

The motto for Amazon is “Work Hard. Have Fun. Make History.” We have been doing all three here in Jeffersonville, IN.

WORK HARD

We are on week three of 59 1/2 hour work weeks, and our bodies are tired. The mindless walking for 11 hour days does take it’s toll on our minds and bodies. I can only talk to myself for so long! Sometimes I start to have strange conversations, and ponder such things as:

– Do all these people buying yoga pants, really do yoga?

– Is Calvin Klein related to Ann Klein?

– When did ‘adult’ coloring books become so popular?

Yes, working 18 of 21 days makes the brain turn to mush. The body and mind are exhausted. This year, they have added 5 extra minutes to our afternoon break, which may sound trivial, but we appreciate having 5 more minutes to sit and relax.

On Tuesdays, we pick up our $100 Visa gift cards, so that alleviates some of the pain! And getting 19 1/2 hours of time and a half pay is also nice!

HAVE FUN

Amazon tries to keep employee moral high during peak, by providing meals, treats, and incentives. In addition to the Thanksgiving meal, we have had pizza provided for lunch three times, and had mini banana nut bread loaves as a break treat.

They are also having many contests, although it is a bit more stingy than last year. Instead of having a lot of smaller prizes, they are offering a $500 Visa gift card every day to one person, for perfect attendance. In addition, they have a weekly attendance drawing for a Kindle Fire HD 6. One of our fellow Camperforce won this!

They started offering ‘vendor bucks’ as incentives for picking over 200 items per session. The bucks are like play money, that is used for the vending machine. At first we were not excited about winning money for the vending machine, until we discovered we can just hit the change button, and receive 4 quarters back! We do not have a washer/dryer in our unit, so receiving free quarters is a bonus! To date, we have received $19 in free quarters! So Amazon is currently paying for our laundry!

They also have $25 and $50 Amazon gift card drawings as prizes, based on the number of items you have picked. I was fortunate to win a $50 Amazon gift card from one of the drawings.

MAKE HISTORY

Our facility has been pretty busy, although compared to last year, it seems like we are slow. Last year was such a crazy, chaotic time. This year, management has done a much better job preparing for peak season. It has gone pretty smooth. On 12/1, our day shift Picking department set a new record of picking 357,000 units. They also set a 24 hour record of picking 690,o00 units, and another record of 3,900,000 units in one week.

This week, they are having “crush” week, and they are trying to go over 700,000 units in a day. We shall see! Between Black Friday/Cyber Monday, 15% of all Amazon orders world wide were fulfilled by our center. So we are making history at SDF-8!

ODDS AND ENDS

We continue to pick a lot of ugly Christmas and ugly Hannakuh sweaters. Coats, purses, wallets and plush bathrobes are very popular. Star Wars apparel is also selling like crazy.

We had our ‘last supper’ with our Jeffersonville group tonight. Having everyone on the same shift has been great! We have met a lot of wonderful people, and really have been able to spend more time with everyone as a result of carpooling, and working together.

Here are a few pictures from dinner tonight, at Big 4 Burgers in Jeffersonville, IN.

Hopefully we will find out our end date in a few days. Once we are done, I will have a wrap-up on our time here at SDF-8.

Quote for the day: “Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it.” – Bill Bradley

Busy Season, silly season

Posted on November 30, 2015 by liv2rv

Hello everyone! It’s me again, Makena, the blogging dog!

Keeping my peeps informed!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I had a good turkey day, as my mom made a turkey breast in the crockpot. I had to spend 4 long hours smelling that turkey….fortunately, a few pieces magically fell into my dish!

My parents have begun the crazy, busy season at Amazon, so I thought I would take the time to update the blog. They have now started the 59 1/2 hour work weeks. They were not going to do these, but then Amazon again offered a $100 VISA gift card for each week that you work it. And they said it is only for 3 weeks, so they can suck it up! I really don’t like it, as it makes for long days for me.

With these long days, I have been limited on my play time in the park across the street. It is dark when they leave, and dark when they get home. One thing I have learned from my cat friends, is how to make your owners feel guilty. You can either ignore them, or poop outside the litter box. Since I can’t do the latter, I have been ignoring them, with great success. They now make it a priority to play with me on their limited time off.

I do have a dog walker, Rob, that takes me out every day for a long walk. I really appreciate it, as I don’t like to cross my paws, even if I have four of them. It sure would have been nice if my buddy Fred would have picked me up on the way to Florida. That would have been great!

We did have a major crisis recently. The dog food that I have enjoyed for my 8 1/2 years has been discontinued! My parents went to the pet store to look for new food, but came back empty-handed. Apparently they were too overwhelmed with the dozens of different brands, all claiming their food was the best for your pet. And my mom noticed many of the brands are now “grain free”. She is a label reader, and said the grain free products are also much higher in calories. Since I just spent the past summer working off the 1/2 pound that I gained, she was concerned about the calories.

So she e-mailed Dr. Jodie, my doctor back in Wisconsin. She recommended Natures Variety, which offers both a grain-free and a holistic blend, which has whole grains. So my mom placed an order with my favorite website, Chewy.com, and I had a big package to open! Christmas came early!

Chewy to the rescue!

Score!!!

I must say the chicken and brown rice is super tasty!!!! And Nature’s Variety also makes peanut butter and banana flavored dog biscuits, that are excellent! Thanks Dr. Jodie for the recommendations, and to Chewy for super fast delivery and much better prices than that place my parents are working for.

Hopefully, we will be in Florida soon. My parents are hoping to be done on Saturday, December 19, but they have been told to expect to work until December 23rd. That is what they have to commit to, in order to receive their end of season bonus ($1/hour for every hour worked). Oh well, it should go by quickly!

Take care everyone!

Quote for the Day: “Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon.” – Doug Larson

Peak Season Is Approaching!

Posted on November 16, 2015 by liv2rv

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of France. We simply cannot imagine the fear and horror that their citizens are going through. Every day that we have, we feel blessed that we are able to do what we are doing. We never know how much time we have, so enjoy each day. Always try to remember what is truly important.

AMAZON UPDATE

We have just finished week seven, and are down to “one hand” (5 weeks = 5 fingers)! Last week, they did not have voluntary overtime available when we finished our week on Saturday. But by Monday, the orders had picked up, and it was offered. (they have an overtime hotline telephone number that you can call). Since we had already done 5 weeks in a row of overtime, we decided to rest, and spend more time with our dog Makena (I think she will have something to blog about soon!). In looking back at last years calendar, we did not have any overtime until November 14, so we are already ahead of last year.

This past week, they announced that Outbound (Pickers, Packers, and Shipping) would not be offered any voluntary overtime, since they wanted everyone to rest up for peak season. We were a little disappointed, until they announced the return of the $100 gift card incentive! Last year, they offered an incentive that if you signed up to work 59 1/2 hours, you would receive a $100 VISA gift card. In October, the senior management team stated they might not offer that incentive this year, and said we would probably just work 55 hour weeks (five 11 hour days).

However, orders are already way up over last year in the month of November, so they are again offering this incentive. It will be for the 3 weeks of December. We will be able to do this for two weeks, possibly all three depending on our release day. So we have the opportunity to earn an additional $400 (maybe $600) in addition to all the extra overtime (19 1/2 hours overtime each week, adds up$$).

Starting Black Friday, we will be starting our shift one hour earlier, and going to 11 hour work days (voluntary for the Camperforce, but mandatory for regular and temporary employees). There are six of us in our carpool, and we all decided to take advantage of all the overtime offered.

Last week they had red and blue frosted sugar cookies for us on Veterans Day. To all the men and women that have served, and are serving our country, we thank you!! Especially my brothers Greg and Jerry!!

This week Amazon is providing a catered Thanksgiving meal for all their employees. We really appreciate this, as we miss out on spending Thanksgiving with our families. But having a meal with our fellow Camperforce (our current “family”) is something we enjoy. And speaking of Thanksgiving, I thought we were done picking costumes, but apparently a lot of people will be dressing up as Pilgrims, based on the large number of Pilgrim costumes I have picked this week.

AMAZON PRIME DAY

And finally, you may remember Amazon tried out a new sales event, Prime Day, on July 15. Many people bashed it when the sale started, stating they did not have enough “good things” on sale. Amazon has an employee magazine that I was reading, and they had an article on their Prime Day. As it turned out, it was the single largest sale day ever in the history of Amazon. 34.4 million items were ordered, which equates to a rate of 398 items ordered per second! As such, Prime Day will return again next year.

In addition to Amazon devices (Fire TV stick, Kindles and Fire Tablet), the following were the top-selling items in each country:

United States: Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Germany and Australia: Croc Sandals

Canada: Huggies Diapers

France: Monopoly boardgame

Japan: 10 day Green Smoothie Cleanse (yes, really!)

Quote for the day: “People sure do buy a lot of crap!” – Mary Lloyd McDonald (who is one of our carpool riders, after her first week of Picking!)

Changing from costumes to ugly sweaters

Posted on November 2, 2015 by liv2rv

Only 54 more days until Christmas!!!

Week five, with mandatory overtime is done! The cardboard drawers full of costumes have already switched over to ‘ugly’ Christmas sweaters and ‘naughty’ Christmas sweaters. What makes a ‘naughty’ sweater? The carrot used for Mr. Snowman’s nose is in a different spot, and Mrs. Snowman is ‘very happy’! And those reindeer are playing some interesting games!!

We have also noticed some new LED sweaters, with red/blue/green LED lights knitted into the sweater. I love shaking the drawers to get them to ‘light up’ as I go down the aisles. (it helps pass the time!) It must be getting cold in some areas, because we have picked a lot of thermal underwear, gloves and winter coats this week. Amazon sells a lot of Columbia, North Face and Carhart apparel.

By the end of the week, work had slowed down a bit, and they offered voluntary time off for an afternoon. The regular full-time employees were excited about this, and rushed to take advantage of taking some unpaid time-off. Since orders were slow, they moved some of us around, and I was moved to the Packing department, to do vendor returns for an afternoon. If merchandise does not sell after a certain amount of time, Amazon sends it back to the manufacturer, or liquidates it. I really did not like doing this, as you stand in one spot all afternoon. I like to be moving.

ALL HANDS ON DECK

We attended the monthly ‘all hands on deck’ meeting last week, where the senior management went over their expectations for peak season. Since it coincided with the employee Halloween costume contest, the senior management was all dressed as Star Wars characters. It was the first time I have attended a meeting run by Darth Vadar, Princess Leia and a Storm Trooper!

The meeting was very informative, and they stated this years Peak should be better than last years. They said last year, staffing was 50% full-time Amazon employees, and 50% temporary agency staff. This year, they are projecting 84% Amazon employees, and only 16% temporary employees. That should alleviate a lot of the craziness that we saw last December when we came up to this facility.

They also announced we will again be switching to 11 hour days, starting on Black Friday. Our start time will be 6:30am – 6:00pm (currently 7:30am to 6). Camperforce is not required to do the 11 hour days. But it is an easy way to get an extra 5 hours of overtime a week, so we will do the longer days.

And since they are not anticipating staffing problems this year, they do not anticipate needing to go to 59 1/2 hour weeks, like they did last year. We are happy to hear that, as we like having 2 full days off. 55 hours is enough for us!

Quote for the day: “All I want for Christmas is a really ugly sweater, said no one ever.” – unknown

Churchill Downs and week 4 is in the books

Posted on October 26, 2015 by liv2rv

Amazon Update

Week four is in the books, another 50 hour week, with voluntary overtime. This week, they have called mandatory overtime for all shifts, as they are experiencing higher than expected volume for Halloween. On a typical day, we are both picking 800 – 1000 items per day. This week, at least 50% of the items were costumes or accessories.

At the beginning of each shift, and after lunch, we have “stand up”, where everyone is required to do stretching, and the managers will update us on the volume of the orders. This week our manager stated 80% of all apparel that is ordered from Amazon is shipped out of our Fulfillment Center. It is no wonder that this place is bursting at the seams with apparel everywhere.

Superman and Batman are running neck and neck in popularity this year, and Spiderman….what happened to you? I have not picked many Spiderman costumes. Anna is beating out Elsa, for top honors with the Disney Frozen costumes. Star Wars and Star Trek are very hot this year. And the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continues to be very popular as well.

Time is going fast for us, which is surprising. I remember our first year, it seemed to take a long time until our fourth week. Personally, I think you need to commit to at least four weeks, before deciding to quit. It seems everything seems to fall in place after the fourth week, and you realize “I can do this.” We have had 3 Camperforce people quit so far. One was due to a death in the family, another had a medical condition that made the job too difficult, and the other person said she just wanted to see what Amazon was like, but said it was more work than what she was interested in. She quit in the 2nd week.

Churchill Downs

As with our last blog on Louisville Slugger, I am going back to 2012 when we visited Churchill Downs, and toured their excellent museum. Churchill Downs opened in 1875 thanks to the efforts of Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr. the grandson of William Clark (of the famous Lewis and Clark explorers). He leased the land from his uncles, Henry and John Churchill, which is where the name Churchill Downs came from.

Churchill Downs

Twenty years later, the grandstand, with the famous twin spires, was completed. The finish line is the white post on the left side of the track on the photo below.

grandstand

The age of the park shows when you walk around under the grandstands of the general seating area.

betting area under stands

On the day of our visit, there were many trainers and jockeys out on the track with their horses. It is easy to distinguish a trainer from a jockey, as jockeys must meet specific weight requirements (no more than 126 pounds, with equipment for the Kentucky Derby).

trainer with horse

jockey with horse

finish line in back

Churchill Downs has the Kentucky Derby Walk of Champions, where several past Derby winners are buried. Usually, when a horse dies, only the head, heart and hooves are buried. The head represents the will to win, the heart represents courage, and the hooves represent speed. There are exceptions when the entire horse is buried, usually it is for distinguished champions, such as Secretariat.

past champions burial grounds

The museum has a wonderful display of various memorabilia. They have a large display on hats and outfits, donated from past patrons.

it’s all about hats

There is a display on the silks that jockeys wear, along with their other equipment they use. The colors represent the horse and the rider. The origins of the silks can be traced back to ancient Rome, when the chariot drivers wore specific colors so the crowds could identify them.

jockey silks

jockey accessories

The museum also has a display honoring the current Kentucky Derby winner, showing them in the winners circle. Anyone remember the 2012 winner?

2012 Winner – I’ll Have Another

There is a large display listing the winners (and all the horses) of every Derby going back to 1875.

every winner displayed

The first winner was Aristides. The winning horse took home $2,850.00! Compare that to this years winner, American Pharaoh, which took home $1,240,000.00.

The first Derby winner

And what would a visit to the museum be without trying my luck at racing? They have a fun racing simulator that you can try out. I had a lot of fun with this!

go, go, go!

If you are ever in the Louisville area, this is a ‘must do’, in our opinion. We had a great day visiting Churchill Downs and the Museum.

Quote for the Day: “Until you go to the Kentucky Derby with your own eyes, behold the Derby, you ain’t never been nowhere and you ain’t never seen nothing.” – Irvin S. Cobb

Liv2RV

Living and working around the country in a RV

We have arrived at our destination…

I’m a senior now!

Just getting caught up

Amazon – season wrap-up

Amazon – 3 days to go!!!

Amazon – will it ever end?

Busy Season, silly season

Peak Season Is Approaching!

Changing from costumes to ugly sweaters

Churchill Downs and week 4 is in the books