Working at Amazon

[Dinny]

Anyone here have any first or second hand experience working for Amazon? I'm considering their Onsite Medical Representative position after I retire from the Army.

Thanks, Dinny

[375supermag]

Hi...
People that I hear talk about working at the Amazon warehouse here in South central Pennsylvania say it's a great place to work if you want to make $15 an hour with a crappy schedule and poor benefits.
Frankly...I wouldn't get out of bed for $15 an hour but then I' m retired and don't want or need a job.

[troyboy]

If the money is right, go for it. If you don't like it look for another job. It's always easier to find another when you don't need too.

[marek313]

I just read somewhere last week that one of the warehouses had an employee go down with a heart attack and nobody noticed for 20 mins yet when that same employee put an item into a wrong bin he was corrected by management in seconds. I know they are all high tech with all their cameras , robots and AI but thats strictly to improve employee performance not employee safety and satisfaction i guess. Lets call it iWhip ....... now get back to work, nothing to see here.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I dont think Amazon is trying to make their employees happy and I dont think I'm not the only one.

[jdfoxinc]

My son in law just quit there. He was a counter, look in bin # x count the items present, enter in computer. He had a quota of transactions per hour with a maximum # of mistakes per day. Hated it. Finally transferred to the receiving dock position he origionally wanted. After a few weeks started going home every day with back pain. The annual raises are minimal. Benefits so so. Now works in shipping/receiving at Barbazon theatrical lighting co. Where my daughter works. They are moving next month to within 2 miles of work. Happier now.

[BigAlofPa.]

My son worked there at the Hazleton Pa warehouse. After Christmas all a sudden just before his 90 day probation was up. He had all these '' performance'' issues. In other words they were cutting people loose to avoid benefits. Even though when hired everyone was told they would stay on after the holidays.

[fatelk]

I've never worked at Amazon, so my assumptions and speculations are based only on my own experiences. It seems that some companies really go out of their way to attract and retain good people, for one reason or another, and others focus hard on the bottom dollar and go through a lot of people.

I recently went from one end of the spectrum to the other without even moving. The company I've worked for for many, many years bought another company, and moved a large part of their U.S. operations into the other company. Company A has great benefits and pay, works hard to compete with high-tech and petrochemical for good people. Company B (now owned wholly by company A) has the poorest benefits in the industry and competes with Walmart (as far as who they hire). It's been tough, and a lot of good people have quit. Turnover has skyrocketed. This company is all about pinching that very last penny to maximize profits for the almighty shareholder.

I don't know what Amazon's employee turnover rate is, but I suspect it's pretty high. That says a lot about what kind of company they are and how they value their employees. Employee loyalty isn't what it used to be, and company loyalty to it's employees seems to be non-existent nowadays. I know an awful lot of twenty and thirty year guys in my company who are spitting mad, feel completely betrayed by the company they've given most of their working life to.

[375supermag]

Most companies today have no loyalty to their employees
They are all about the bottom line...profits rule above all else no matter who gets hurt in the process.
Saw it where I worked... fortunately, I was in a position to retire when they started playing their games with me when I returned to work after my last health issue.
Thee is no loyalty in today's business world...no integrity...sad, but true.

[clintsfolly]

Have old friend that worked for Amazon and he said it was the worst place he ever worked. When I first meet he he worked in a bottling plant plant cleaning returned bottles. Think of the the garbage and crud in the bottles and the heat from the steam cleaner. So I would guess it’s bad amazon.

[country gent]

Im willing to bet like a lot of new companies and or techs they are solely ran by bean counters and it strictly the bottom line. No real loyalty towards employees or to company, This seldom promotes a good work environment. It takes a lot more than just the paycheck to be secure and happy in a job or new position.

[Handloader109]

do you have at least a LPN license?
if so, look into a medical supervisor position with a plasma donation center. Good money, a lot want some percent of part time nurses. you are screening applicant donors. Easy work, no real exam.( listen to heart and visual) mostly paperwork. and it really isnt a supervisory position. (I managed center for 11 yrs. always struggled to keep good nurses)

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[Kraschenbirn]

One of the neighbor's kids is 'Prime' delivery driver for Amazon. Hasn't been on the street for long but says, compared to working in the distribution center, it's not too bad. He's only 19, though, and Amazon is his first real employer if you don't count a couple fast food joints. He's not planning on making a career of Amazon, either...taking votech courses at night in 'collision repair' at local community college.

Bill

[MT Gianni]

I would make sure that what you have would be medical only, or 70% of the time. I would not want to be hired as a medical person and find I am filling orders til someone goes down.

[bedbugbilly]

Retired Army? (And thank yo for your service) Gun owner? Conservative?

The last I knew, Amazon leaned Left, supported BLM and other Socialist or Marxist groups.

Just saying . . . While the job may look and sound good . . . I'd be doing some checking on just wo you would be answering to and what the political atmoshere was as far as for those in what I would consider white collar/management positions. If you, as an employee do not agree with their political leanings and are not afraid to speak you mind . . . are you setting yourself up to be "cancelled" and their other dirty tricks if you do not conform to what they think you should? Just asking as you really need to talk to some who have actually worked for Amazon

I have known several who worked (past tense) for Amazon. I cannot speak for them other than I know that, while they appreciated the opportunity to work, they left due to doctoral working conditions and other things. While Amazon certainly helped out a lot of people during the pandemic by them being able to order things on line, they also put a lot of small businesses out of business who cannot compete with such a large operation. I find it kid of odd that when I have been on their site in the past, I have seen references to supporting BLM and other Marxist/Socialist Organizations hut yet they have no issue with Capitalizm as far as raking his high profits. They are no different than other large corporations such as eBay, PayPal, Coke, Pepsi and others - they support the Left yet their corporate executives have no issue with taking six and fore figure salaries, stock options, bonuses, etc.

[john.k]

When I got my first job .....my old mans advice.....keep your mouth shut ,eyes and ears wide open.....and make sure youre not doing any more than the next man!......I d think a medical assistants job would be OK,provided you took my old mans advice.

[john.k]

..Amazons been a great help.....made me my first billion... and second ,third ,etc---Jeff Bezos.

[salpal48]

Money is Money. if the money is Good Go for it . You don't have to like their opinion . You can always use them for further connections. Amazon's money is just as green as others

[Plate plinker]

Screw them, bezoar is no friend of ours. Destroying the lives of small business is there way.

[hoodat]

Sounds like the kind of job that should be required for every teenager. Work there for a month, and then get out and get an education or skill that will make Amazon an ugly memory. jd

[GregLaROCHE]

Sounds like the kind of job that should be required for every teenager. Work there for a month, and then get out and get an education or skill that will make Amazon an ugly memory. jd

That’s a very good idea!

[.429&H110]

A childhood friend made THHN half his life, learned his machine: had the burns to prove it. Money was good, union was good, one day the company moved to Korea. So my buddy got his LPN license and goes to jail every day to do meds. He is the kind of guy that can do a job like that with a smile. Money is good, union is good, he says it beats making wire in the dark. Each to his own, YMMV.

[Butzbach]

When I got my first job .....my old mans advice.....keep your mouth shut ,eyes and ears wide open.....and make sure youre not doing any more than the next man!......I d think a medical assistants job would be OK,provided you took my old mans advice.

And that’s why Australia is what it is. American excellence, often emulated, never duplicated.

[rboeser]

Sounds like the kind of job that should be required for every teenager. Work there for a month, and then get out and get an education or skill that will make Amazon an ugly memory. jd

That sounds like a good idea! One of the bigger problems we have now is some make more money sitting at home than most businesses can afford to pay. I say if you are happy with your job, you will never work a day in your life. I don't understand how someone can grind through a day while hating their job. Life is way to short to spend time upset with what you do for a living.

[Land Owner]

[thread hack = ON]
Hey Dinny! No hogs at present...just bears(!) and turkey.
[thread hack = OFF]

[William Yanda]

I worked from Nov 2019 thru Feb 2020 at a Distribution Center, night shift. Crew of 30 -50 sorted 20K+ to over 50k packages a night. Pkgs. ranged from envelopes-jiffies-to boxes the size of cartons of paper towels, some heavy. Very regimented and high tech, wearing a scanner on one wrist, that read the bar code and recorded the location of the package. Routinely received truckloads of palletized packages, sorted into boxes of packages sorted by route. The next shift relocated the bins on carts to designated spots for the drivers to collect and move to their vans. During the night shift there was no medical person on site, not even HR support on a regular basis. I suspect you are considering a location with a larger staff. Safety was often mentioned-get help for heavy packages, but the pressure for finishing the sort-drivers expected to be able to load their trucks at a certain time was constant. 40 or so vans loading in an hour or hour and a half is amazing the first time you see it.
Complaints about pressure to perform can be found online.

[abunaitoo]

These days most companies have no loyalty for the workers.
And workers have no loyalty to the company.
So it goes both ways.
The days of the company "family" are almost gone.
It probably why people just hate big companies these days.
Everything is all about money, profit.
Sad

[john.k]

What strikes me as strange about Amazon is the large number of human employees.....right from the first days of stacks of books in a big shed,the whole idea was complete automation.....computer controlled machines would do everthing,even delivery.....Never seems to have happened ...or maybe humans are cheaper than computers.

[Plate plinker]

Amazon assaults the first amendment. No longer happy with them at all.

[Murphy]

Going by what's been posted so far, it sounds like Amazon would be a good place to avoid working for. Sure, $15 sounds good and for a younger person who's not spent much time in the work force, it may even seem fantastic. It never hurts to give something a try. On the other hand, I don't have an Amazon account and don't foresee the need to ever wanting one. Unfortunately, so many people seem to think they can't exist without Amazon and/or Walmart. Just my 2¢ worth.


Murphy

[Land Owner]

Reflecting here for one moment. I needed some snack food that is KETO friendly. Nature's Garden is a brand name. They sell their own product on line for $16.49 a bag plus $6.99 shipping, arrival in ten (10) days, and that was iffy due to carrier backlog. I searched Walmart and a couple of other places on the Net. Pretty much the same deal, some much WORSE. The local, 45 miles away, Food Store that sells the product does so for over $15 per bag on their shelf.

Then the Amazon ad on the Net...$9.98 per bag (that's an unannounced 40% discount!), free shipping (30-day trial of Amazon Prime), and NEXT DAY delivery. So, yeah, I pulled the trigger on that and bought 10 bags, signed up for the free shipping trial with Amazon Prime membership of $12.99 monthly thereafter (cancelable at any time). My order came to $99.80 and zero for shipping (41.94% discount). I can cancel the "membership" at any time this month without cost to me.

So, yeah, purchase all you want, anything you want - that they sell - any time you want, deeply discounted, pay no more than the one and only one monthly fee for shipping, and get it the next day. If you buy a lot of stuff on line, stuff Bezos sells, why not pay less? It only makes sense. I wish only that his politics were different and he sold guns and reloading components. I am on the fence this month about the "membership" to see if there is anything else during this free trial that I may need before cancelling.

What is not to like about that? My little vendetta against Bezos' politics isn't going to stop.

[1hole]

Frankly...I wouldn't get out of bed for $15 an hour but then I'm retired and don't want or need a job.

That's good information to be filed away and I'm sure we're all happy for you but most of us are not retired and we do need jobs.

One thing to remember about lousy companies: A job isn't a military enlistment so we're not constrained by a contract. I say work where you can for the pay but keep looking/applying for something better.

I have no personal knowledge about working for Amazon but it seems a lot of people must think the pay and benefits are better than many other jobs. ???

[1hole]

Complaints about pressure to perform can be found online.

That's true but I never expected any employer to be my mommy/daddy.

Employees are hired to accomplish tasks, not to play. Valid company complaints about the poor work ethic of many current self entitled employees are plentiful too.

I've never known of more than a very few large industrial companies with an in house medical department and none of them were on duty around the clock. OHSA requires that a few employees of large companies have basic Red Cross First Aid training and supplies for minor injuries but today's legal liabilities almost demand that any company will depend on local ambulance/fire services to handle any serious issues.

[Huskerguy]

I am kind of surprised at the number of comments about corporate greed and it is all about the bottom line. It seems to me that Amazon made an effort to pay the magical $15 per hour knowing it was a hot button topic and it gives a company good press to say they pay employees the living wage whether that is true or not.

I guess I want to work for a company that makes money because those that don't won't be around long. Companies or corporations, whatever you call them have to make a profit, that allows them to expand and increase the technology. Amazon didn't pay taxes some years due to reinvesting money back into the business. What is wrong with that?

I suppose there is a difference between a corporation "making a profit" and outright "corporate greed" but where is that line? The bottom line for me is that companies are in business to make a profit and to do that they hire people and pay them. If you don't want to work there, don't. No one is forcing anyone. T

The blanket statement about company loyalty being long gone is not a fair statement. Workers are demanding and receiving more and more all the time, especially at upper level jobs. But we all expect those at entry level places. I have a relative who owns 7 production plants across the U.S. with just under 700 employees. He pays well and has excellent benefits although health insurance is a continual battle to keep up on and afford and his company quit drug testing because they were having a difficult time finding people. He says if they stay 3 months you usually end up with a good employee, but far too many just quit showing up, I think they call it ghosting, no call, no text, no email just done working.

I always wonder how many people would have jobs at companies who didn't make a profit. The person who starts the business, not the worker, is the one who took the risk and borrowed the money, had the plan and executed it and should be rewarded for it. Lastly, everyone wants less expensive products. If bullets, reloading equipment, powder and primers were available through Amazon, I would venture 90% of the people on this site would purchase them there.