Picking orders at an enormous warehouse kitted out with robots was less physically demanding than other fulfilment roles that required her to do the heavy lifting, says Jessica, an Amazon worker in her 40s. But she also realised from her very first shift that the job was “frankly, damn boring”.
She would spend up to 12 hours standing in one place, selecting items from a bin transported to her by one of dozens of robots whizzing around the floor. Compared with non-automated facilities, the pace of work was faster and often out of her control, which she found stressful. “When you got busy, you would have 20 robots lined up to come to your station,” she says.
Jessica left after less than a year. She is now employed at a less automated Amazon distribution centre, where the pace is slower and she can more easily chat with co-workers. It’s not perfect — but it is much more enjoyable, she says.