(Today we have another guest post from Becky at http://www.interstellarorchard.com/. She is a young, female full-time RVer who has to work to support herself and last year she worked at Amazon.com in the CamperForce in their warehouses at the holidays. This is a blog she posted last year about how she got the job. Because there are so many of us who need work like this I asked her if I could repeat her post here. She graciously agreed and so here it is. Remember, all this information is for LAST YEARS season.)
A few days ago I applied to work at an Amazon distribution center for the 2012 holiday season. I think most Vandwellers and RVers have heard about Amazon’s CamperForce before, but since one of my goals is to encourage more people to go full-timing (but think they can’t afford it) I decided to do a write up on what I found while I was researching the opportunity this past week. (Disclaimer: I work at Amazon right now, but none of this is official. This is just what I have learned from research, my time on the job, and from talking to others. It is truthful to the best of my knowledge, but any of it could change at any point, keep that in mind.)
WHAT IT IS:
There are three Amazon distribution centers in the US that hire RVers to work manual labor around the busy holiday season. The pay is better than just about any other work camping gig out there, and there is good reason for that.There are five advertised positions, all of which require standing on your feet for your entire shift. Some positions are more physically demanding than others, but every blog and first hand account I’ve read says that it is hard work. Here are the position descriptions, as pulled from workamper.com’s page for AmazonWorkForce (http://www.workamper.com/featuredEmployersFolders/153589/):
- Receiving: As part of our receiving team, you will be receiving and checking inventory from our suppliers. You will need to be able to lift, bend, stoop and squat frequently.
- Stowing: You will walk 2-4 miles a day, and will lift, bend, stoop and squat frequently. Ability to read a hand-held scanner and climbing stairs up to 30% of the time is necessary. Our stowing team safely shelves the millions of items that come through each Amazon facility.
- Sortation: You might be using a hand-held reader to guide you in taking items from chutes and putting them into boxes, packaging items into a variety of shipping containers.
- Shipping: You could be standing scanning and packaging single items for shipment or palletizing boxes and loading trucks.
- Picking: You will walk 5-10 miles a day and will lift, bend, stoop and squat frequently. Ability to read a hand-held scanner and climbing stairs up to 30% of the time is necessary. Our picking team picks millions of items into totes and transfers the totes to a conveyor.
JOB REQUIREMENTS:
Besides being able to meet the physical demands of the job, you’ll need proof of graduation from high school or a copy of your GED. If you haven’t graduated from high school or gotten your GED, Amazon does have a program set up to help people achieve this. You can e-mail the CamperForce reps at the e-mail listed at the end of this article for more information. All applicants also need to pass a drug test.
Solo campers are as welcome as couples, but at least one person needs to work full-time hours. The second person may work part-time, or not be employed at Amazon at all. Hours are discussed more in a later section.
LOCATIONS:
There are three locations: Campbellsville, KY, Coffeyville, KS, and Fernley, NV. Here are the blurbs about the three locations, again pulled from Amazon’s info page:
- Campbellsville, KY: Campbellsville is located in the heart of Central Kentucky, nestled between the Cumberland Plateau and the Appalachian Mountains and offering the best of both regions. According to Amazon, there are 7 campgrounds available for Campbellsville workers for the 2012 season. The nearest is right across the street, the farthest is 16 miles out. First hand accounts say that the ones that are farther out tend to have more level sites and more space between sites. Most sites are 50 amp and full hook up, those without sewer will get a honey wagon service.
- Coffeyville, KS: which is located near the Verdigris River in southeast Kansas, about 75 miles north of Tulsa, OK, and 60 miles west of Joplin, MO. According to Amazon, there are 7 campgrounds available for Coffeyville workers for the 2012 season. The nearest is right across the street, the farthest is 18(?) miles out. Most sites are 50 amp and full hook up, those without sewer will get a honey wagon service.
- Fernley, NV: Living in the Reno area, you have an opportunity to engage in a wide variety of activities and hobbies. According to Amazon, there are 4 campgrounds available for Fernley workers for the 2012 season. First hand accounts make it sound like on average they’re all farther away from the site than the other two locations. Most sites are 50 amp and full hook up, those without sewer will get a honey wagon service.
WEATHER:
I checked weather.com for climate information for the three sites, since I live in a three-season travel trailer and cold weather could make for a miserable experience. As you can see from the chart I made, below freezing temps can be expected overnight at all three sites particularly during the second half of the season, and there is a possibility of it getting really cold. According to first hand accounts snow does fall occasionally, but probably due to the record warm winter in many parts of the US last year, no one reported snow fall at any of the sites during employment (Campbellsville got about 2″ on the 24th of December). While Coffeyville is on average dryer than Campbellsville, there are reports that the campgrounds closer to the distribution center don’t drain well, and there have been issues with mud and flooding in the past.
HOURS AND PAY:
Traditionally, the period of employment is from the beginning of October, through December 23rd. Yes, you do get out before Christmas. Sometimes some people will get out a few days before December 23rd, but CamperForce representatives will tell you to expect to work through that date. A limited number of work campers will start before October, and new hires will be starting on a weekly basis all the way up through the middle of November, so whether you’re available starting in September or not until November you have options.
A full day is 10 workings hours. Work weeks are 4 days on, 3 days off (at least until peak season starts, then all bets seem to be off). Most shifts have all 3 days off in a row, but the ‘donut’ shift works Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri. Two 15 minute paid breaks and one 30 minute unpaid lunch are provided. There are two shifts: daytime and nighttime.
Wages are the same as they were last year:
- Campbellsville: $9.90/hour, $10.50 per hour if working nights or weekends. From blogs and forums that I have read, it sounds like overtime becomes mandatory for those working Outbound jobs when the season picks up at the end of November, but remains optional for Inbound.
- Coffeyville: $10.50/hour, $11.00 if working nights or weekends. All accounts that I have read for Coffeyville make it sound like overtime becomes mandatory for Inbound and Outbound when the season picks up, and is up to 10 hours per week.
- Fernley: $11.50 per hour, $12.25 if working nights or weekends. Overtime was suppose to be mandatory for Inbound and Outbound, but it sounded like last year there were more people hired for the Fernley site than available hours, and a lot of people ended up not working the full 40 hours per week and overtime was scarce. That says nothing about how this year will go however.
BENEFITS:
- All campground costs (electric, water, and honey wagon services where sewer hook ups aren’t provided) are billed directly to Amazon during your employment, from two days before your start date to one day after. It sounded like at Fernley last year folks staying at certain campgrounds had to pay their own electric bill, but Amazon’s page up at workamper.com does say “All campground costs” this year. If in doubt, ask them during the hiring process, but that would explain why Fernley workers make so much more per hour than the other two sites.
- At all locations, you get a 10% discount on things ordered online, up to the first $1,000 spent. Which equates to a maximum of $100 off if you do the math.
- There is a $0.50/hour bonus for the Fernley site for completing the season, and a $1.00/hour bonus for the Campbellsville and Coffeyville sites for completing the season. Reading between the lines here you can surmise that many people who start will not finish the season.
- While not listed as a benefit, it sounds like some swag is handed out as part of the CamperForce experience. A lanyard and t-shirt seem like a given if you make it through the season, and there are reports of periodic small gift card handouts and the like when shifts meet their quota.
- Meals on site are also occasionally provided by Amazon, the frequency again seems to vary widely. There is also a $50 referral bonus for every person/couple you refer to the CamperForce program who gets hired.
REALITY CHECK:
- There are quotas to meet, both per individual and by group and shift. How strict your supervisors will be about meeting those quotas varies widely and seems to play a big part in how people rated their CamperForce experience.
- You will be working alongside permanent Amazon employees, and people who were hired through other temp programs. In an ideal world all employees would treat each other with dignity and respect, but this is not an ideal world.
- No cameras, and thereby phones and the like, are allowed on site. This is strictly enforced.
- You must be not only punched in, but at your station by the start of your shift, or by the end of your lunch. This means that you actually need to arrive to work a good deal early to get to your station on time, and don’t have time during your half hour lunch to leave the premises.
- You will be on your feet a lot. Every account I have read has considered a pair of high-quality tennis shoes to be a must, most also buy gel inserts for their shoes. You’re probably looking at $50 + for such a thing if you don’t already own a pair.
THE HIRING PROCESS:
You can get started by going here: http://www.amazonfulfillmentcareers.com/programs/camper-force/ or by e-mailing a CamperForce rep at seasonal-camper@amazon.com. That is also the e-mail any questions should be sent to. It was noted in the Workamper Rendezvous video that a resume is not strictly necessary for employment but I should think it would increase your chances to have one. It sounds like you’ll receive an application and possibly some other paperwork to fill out from there that should either be faxed or e-mailed back to Amazon. Once that is done the applications are reviewed and the most likely candidates are contacted to set up a phone interview. The phone interview lasts 10 – 15 minutes, and at the end of the interview if the job seems like a good fit for you and Amazon you’ll be offered a position under the condition that you meet the job requirements as listed above.
If you accept, you’ll get additional information from Amazon about the site you’ll be at, and the contact list for the campgrounds at that site. Amazon will not reserve a site for you they just pay for it, so it’s up to you to contact the campground you’re most interested in at set up a reservation. This should be done as soon as possible for the best selection of sites.
SITE CONTACT NUMBERS:
Campbellsville, KY: (270) 849-2604
Coffeyville, KS: (620) 464-2665
Fernley, NV: (775) 575-8045
And that covers it!
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Editors note: Be sure to read her summary of her experience at Amazon here:
http://www.interstellarorchard.com/2013/01/08/final-camperforce-review/
And these posts she wrote during her time there:
http://www.interstellarorchard.com/2012/10/11/camperforce-what-to-expect-the-first-few-days/
http://www.interstellarorchard.com/2012/11/19/peak-kick-off-at-amazon/
http://www.interstellarorchard.com/2012/11/29/adventures-in-cooking-amazon-update/
http://www.interstellarorchard.com/2012/12/10/figuring-the-pay-at-amazon/
Finally, let me (Bob) say I know several other Vandwellers who have worked for Amazon, and they all say it is hard, but profitable work! I have a friend who worked in their Fernley (Reno) location and lived in his van. He did NOT get his job through the CamperForce program, he got hired through a temp agency in Fernley, NV. That means he didn’t get a campsite, but since he was in a van, he just parked in the WalMart parking lot the whole time. He said a Sheriff’s Deputy checked him out and as soon as he found out he worked for Amazon the Deputy told him he was okay to park there. In fact he gave my friend his card and told him if anyone gave him a problem they should call the Deputy and he would take care of it.
You may be asking yourself why not work for WorkForce and get a free RV campsite? The reason is Amazon strongly discourages workcampers from drawing unemployment. It is my understanding that if you do, they will not rehire you the next year. But if they hire you through a temp agency, you can draw unemployment. My friend was drawing unemployment from his time with Amazon when I visited with him.
Let me emphasize that my information is all second-hand so do your own research before making your final decision.
Thanks Becky (and Bob);
This sounds like a great opportunity…sure its hard work though lets face it times being what they are chances are if you’re not working hard you are probably hardly working *shrug*.
And, please forgive my Canadian ignorance, but is WorkForce what they ued to call JobForce a number of years back?
I hope everyones efforts are fruitful!
Joni
Joni, actually is is CamperForce and it is an amazon only thing. it’s what the call their RV work-camper program. I mistakenly switched it to WorkForce but I thought I had caught all those and switched them to CamperForce. I’ll have to double check.
They have a quota system and they know at the end of the night the exact number of packages you moved. if you meet their quotas, you will be invited back, if not you won’t. The thing is that it is mostly older people who are full-time RVers so it becomes harder for them. Of course there are exceptions, Becky is young, my friend in Fernley is in his 30s. I know another couple who worked there and are in their 30s. For young people it is not an issue, if you are in your 60s or 70s, it might be.
Bob
Heya Joni.
Bob has it, CamperForce is Amazon’s program catering specifically to RVers.
On the quota thing though, it doesn’t seem to be as strictly enforced for CamperForce folks as it is for other temps – or at least it wasn’t at Coffeyville. I worked with people in CamperForce last year who on average didn’t complete quota the year before and still were invited back. Amazon seems like like us RVers because we’re more reliable than other temps: we always show up when we’re suppose to which might not seem like much but you’d be surprised how many folks in temp jobs don’t.
That makes sense to me Becky. In my experience as a campground host the great majority of people were older, and you simply can’t expect the same level of productivity out of someone who is 60 or 70 that you would expect from someone who is 30 or 40. Seasonal work requires some compromises on productivity from the employer and a good one lowers his expectations.
Of course for us younger people we come out looking like superstars! I was almost always the youngest, most productive guy at all the campgrounds I was at and I was 57!
For those younger people out there that puts you at a big advantage! Most campground host jobs will have a phone interview, and legally they can’t ask your age so be sure to tell them that you are young and healthy and have a good work ethic. That is a rarity!
Bob
I just wander if anyone can earn a living on the Internet like create blogs, web sites and Youtube. Anybody has the experience and would like to share it. Thanks
Patrick, you hear about the very few who do make money at it, but not many actually do. It takes a long time for those few who do.
Bob
Sounds like a nice deal. If I didn’t already work at a distribution center, I would have looked into this. Thanks for the info, Becky and Bob!
You’re welcome McBeef!
Bob
Glad you enjoyed it.
More very good info for those trying to make a go of it. Thanks!
You’re welcome CAE. We all need some money coming in and Amazon pays well.
Bob
You’re welcome CAE. 🙂
The folks at Technomadia also blogged about their experience working for Amazon:
http://www.technomadia.com/2010/02/workamping-at-amazon-com-was-it-worth-it/
(if the link doesn’t work please search for “Technomadia Amazon was it worth it”)
Their experience is 4 years old now but based on the requirements Becky posted here I suspect it won’t have changed much. And considering the problems they had, including “living on Advil” (their words) for the swelling, which at one point was so bad Cherie couldn’t get her shoes on and had to call in sick, plus having to be seen by Amazon’s health care people for injuries from the boxes – this is definitely a job requiring a lot of stamina and not for someone who is out of shape or (possibly) with other health issues (the Technomadia post also mentions *mandatory* overtime).
Also – the requirements above don’t specify how many pounds would need be lifted, which is strange; most job descriptions I’ve read do, for liability reasons (to avoid worker’s comp claims). If you have back trouble and/or a limit on how much you can lift it would probably be worth checking with Amazon on that.
I’m not anywhere near any of their distribution centers but even if I were this is not a job I’d apply for. I do need work but I also recognize that there are some jobs I just can’t physically do, and this is one of them. But for those who can, this may be a good opportunity.
Meg, it is hard, physical work. I am under the impression that for a younger person it won’t be a problem, but most of us are older so it becomes a big issue. It’s good you are realistic with yourself what you are able to do.
Bob
One more thing – the Technomadia post also mentions mandatory tax return filing, for those who work in Kansas (the tax was automatically deducted from their paychecks). I’m not sure if this is still the case or if it’s true of other states but it may be worth checking into, especially if you move around a lot and can’t file online.
Hello Meg,
Kansas is an income tax state, so yes you do need to file there if you work there – as you would if you worked in any state that has income taxes. When you get your tax paperwork in January though you can claim as a non-resident and get some of it back, for me it ended up being about $85. Even with the money pulled out for taxes though, it’s still the best work camping job out there money-wise except possibly sugar beet harvesting, but then the sugar beet harvest doesn’t last as long so while $/hr might be higher total pay at the end isn’t.
Yes, the job is physically demanding, yes if you’re in poor physical shape it likely isn’t for you. That being said I worked with plenty of retirement aged folks who made it to the end of the season in one piece, and a couple who’d been doing it multiple years.
Yes, overtime gets to be mandatory once Peak starts, there’s less of it in Inbound than in Outbound so if you’d rather have less ask to be placed in Inbound. That being said, it’s time and a half once you get over 40 hours and when you’re making $11 an hour to begin with the money is pretty sweet.
At Amazon anything over 25 pounds should be a team lift – in theory. All of this is gone over in training your first day on the job after orientation. They aren’t going to yell at you for lifting over 25 lbs by yourself(I did it frequently) unless you’re visibly struggling, but that way they can cover their butts if you get an injury related to improper lifting. You will not be penalized outright for taking more time to find someone to help you lift something heavy – but the kicker is the quota is always there whether your shipment that day is stuffed animals or dumbbells, so it can be challenging at times.
I guess that’s what Amazon boils down to – it’s challenging, make no mistake. But the money is fantastic. It’s up to each individual to weight the pluses and minuses for themselves and decide if it’s worth it.
If anyone else has questions about CamperForce I’ll peek in over the next couple days and answer – the benefits and wages have not changed for the 2014 season so this post is still quite accurate.
One thing about states with income tax — if you don’t make much, and the state has earned-income-credit, you can wind up with more back than you paid in.
Blars, that is a very good point, well worth looking into!
Bob
Sounds like a great job opportunity- definitely will be looking into it more. Love your posts, thanks for sharing!
For vandwellers and RVers, it is about ideal! If you live frugal and draw unemployment, this could be all you work all year.
Bob
I think this is great that amazon does this. I would also like to point out that I have had friends that lived at normal amazons. They are busy facilities though so they never notice the extra van parked in the parking lot every night. My friends left the facilities on off days and drove about else where, but they used the restroom and worked at the amazon on the days they worked. I don’t know how extremely well it would work for anyone else but I know they liked it just fine. They said the parking lot was always safe due to the high amount of coming and going and security.
Myddy, thanks for that info about Amazon. Very helpful for anyone considering working there.
Bob
I just completed a season as camp host in Tahoe NF and am considering the Amazon job in Fernley since its close to where I am now. What I’m concerned about is the 10 month old pit bull who I rescued. He’s the happiest, friendliest dog I’ve ever owned, especially after spending the summer in the Sierras but is full of energy. How welcome are dogs at the campground Amazon puts you in?
Tom, I’m sorry I have no idea the answer to that. But there were links in the article to Amazons website for workcampers. I suggest you call them and ask them how welcome dogs are. I think you work 10 hour shifts and required overtime, it may be hard on a young dog.
Bob