Amazon Decision
Well, after some back and forth and saying to each other "So, what are we going to do?" about fifty times, we finally decided to officially accept the Amazon position in Fernley.
We've heard how cold it gets there in November/December and we've heard that those that have worked in Fernley in the past haven't gotten as many hours during their stint as others that have worked in the Coffeyville, KS or Campbellsville, KY centers. Hopefully, we'll get plenty of hours this year - might as well get paid as much as possible since we're going to be there. And hopefully, it will be a mild start to the winter. :)
I corrected the pay rate. In the last post I said the day job rate was $11.00, but it is actually $11.50 per hour.
And I mentioned that Amazon pays for our campsite but they don't pay for our electric. They pay for all utilities at the other facilities, so I'm not sure why they don't in Fernley.
Since the two Fernley RV parks were full, we ended up making reservations at the nicest of the three remaining choices - Sparks Marina RV Park.
That's actually astroturf between the sites. :)
They don't have electric meters at their sites, so they charge a flat $100 per month for electric. Hopefully, their grid can handle it, 'cause I'm sure everyone's going to try to get their $100 bucks worth with multiple electric heaters. :)
The daily commute of 25 miles each way from Sparks (just east of Reno) will be a pain, but hopefully a few of us can rotate car pooling.
We are prepared to arrive in early October, but we won't know our official start date until August. At that point, we start the background check and drug testing process.
Oh, by the way, if you are considering working at Amazon this year (at any of the facilities) and haven't started the application process, let us know through our Contact Form. Amazon offers a $50 employee referral fee for those that 1) haven't worked for Amazon before, and 2) haven't started the interviewing process. :)
The bonus is paid after the new employee has worked 30 days as long as we are still employed. Again, it doesn't matter which facility. We just have to complete a referral form with name, email address, phone number, and facility.
Well, gotta get started on a training regimen. Our hiking, biking, and paddling will be a good start, but I think we need to get into a little better shape before we start at Amazon. :)
Heartland Rally
With our pre-rally RV weighing complete, we took part in evening meals, provided the first night entertainment, had a booth in the vendor area, and did three seminars.
On Thursday, we sat at our booth twiddling our thumbs most of the day. With no product to sell, we don't get much attention and we certainly don't do a hard sell. It's usually the seminars that create the interest.
The first night's dinner was a potluck with The Chophouse catering a huge BBQ chicken breast.
After dinner, we were the entertainment. We tweaked the "Road Tested" Newlywed-type game Linda created for our Spring Rally. Unfortunately, the response wasn't as enthusiastic as it was at our rally, and it was like pulling teeth to get volunteers to play .... even with a Pilot/Flying J gas card as a prize. We planned to play three games with the winners of the the three games going head-to-head in a final, but we barely got enough people for two games. Oh well.
On Friday, Linda went to do laundry while I sat at our booth in the morning. Linda returned and broke out her beading - DreamLife Creations. She is making a hat band for her cowboy hat. Now that generated some attention, and she sold a couple bracelets. :)
Eventually, it was time to do our Weight & Tire Safety seminar at 2:30. Since that was the last day for the vendor booths, we broke down the booth and went next door to do our seminar. We only had about 30 people and about 3/4 of them were already safety conscious and got weighed on the way in. We only added a couple to weigh on the way out. That was a little disappointing.
Friday night was a catered meal from the Chophouse and then entertainment from Kenny Miller who does a musical tribute show to six solo artists. After sitting at the booth all day and doing our seminar, we just wanted to relax, so I don't have a review of Kenny's show.
On Saturday, we got some things done in the morning as we didn't have to man a booth. We just had seminars to do in the afternoon.
We had a great turn out for our Full-timing Overview seminar at 2:00 on Saturday. We do 10 - 12 hours of detailed seminars at our RV-Dreams Rallies, but this was an hour of overview with a half hour or so of questions. Love it!
After that, we did a Workamping Overview seminar. Again our Rally seminar is much more detailed, but we covered the basics including Workamper News memberships, various other sources to find positions, and volunteer opportunities.
After our final seminar, we didn't have much time before dinner, another catered affair from the Chophouse. After dinner the entertainment was provided by Sarah Getto, a singer/songwriter who is also an RVer. Oh, and Sarah was born blind and with a severe cleft palate according to her bio - an inspirational story. She has a beautiful voice, but again we headed home to relax, and were probably asleep before the show was over. :)
Tomorrow morning is departure day and a farewell breakfast. We will weigh a couple of rigs on the way out and, overall, we're pleased with the results of coming to the Heartland Owners Rally. We won't be as involved at the next two rallies here at the Cam-Plex, so we're not exactly sure what to expect, but if we weigh 40 rigs at each of those, we'll certainly be thrilled.
We're going to stay here Sunday night and then move over to the Devil's Tower Monument campground on Monday. Sunday afternoon, we're going to check out a couple public land boondocking spots north of Gillette where we might stay a couple nights before returning to the Cam-Plex for the Newmar Rally next weekend.
Well, that's about it for the last few days. But before we sign off, below are some updates for upcoming RV-Dreams Rallies.
RV-Dreams Rallies
I've updated the itinerary for the 2012 Fall RV-Dreams Rally and we are working behind the scenes preparing for it. We're really looking forward to that one. In addition to it being our first west coast rally, it's the first one where we are working with a local RV dealer to provide on-site service for our attendees.
We are also working on scheduling a winter "Boondocking Primer" rally in the southwest desert in late January or early February 2013. It will be for those that are a little timid about boondocking that might want to learn and gain confidence in a group setting.
And we are researching facilities for our 2013 Spring Rally which will be somewhere in the west.
Stay tuned for more updates.
And as always, thanks to everyone for your support! :)
Tony and I have stayed at the Sparks Marina many times as it's close to the kids and other family members. Nice place! That time of year you might not have a lot of neighbors, which you will like, but with your work schedule you might not notice anyway. Good luck with the job and hope you have some time for some sight seeing!!
Posted by: Eileen | Sunday, June 17, 2012 at 11:22 AM
Congratulations!
I stayed at the Marina Sparks RV Park last year while working at Amazon. It is the nicest park in the Reno/Parks area. However, it is 33 miles to the Amazon plant, not 25. I carpooled most shifts.
I think the flat $100 fee for electrical is the parks way of making up the site fees. I think Amazon only pays $350 to the Park and the usual site fee is $450 per month. The other parks charge metered electrical.
Many workcampers did not complete their commitment so there were spaces available at the Fernley parks after a few weeks. However, you need to follow up with the parks because even if you are on a waiting list they didn't contact you. I had to contact them, but in the end I stayed at the Marina Sparks RV park because of its central location to Reno and Tahoe.
Fall is a beautiful time in Reno so if you have the opportunity to arrive early there is plenty of hiking, biking, and kayaking to enjoy.
Posted by: Claudia Ward | Sunday, June 17, 2012 at 11:24 AM
Sounds like it could be fun and pay a few bills for you guys. Hope all is well. It has been a cold and damp start to the camping season in Maine! Maybe the warm weather will get here before the 4th of July. Stay well, travel safe.
Posted by: Bob Zagami | Sunday, June 17, 2012 at 07:31 PM
You missed quite a show if you didn't stay for the complete Sarah show. She was at our winter RV park in Washington State a couple of years ago. It was so good that I bought 2-3 of her CDs and look forward to my IPOD cycling around to them.
Posted by: Tom Warfield | Sunday, June 17, 2012 at 07:33 PM
We worked at Coffeyville last year. It is hard work but the pay is good. I would recommend the pickers job if you can get it. We have considered doing it again but will probably wait another year and see. Going in for awhile ahead of peak is a great idea so that your feet can get use to walking on cement 10 hours a day. We started Nov 1 and had only 1 week at 40 hours and then went to 50+ hours making the transition difficult. Good luck.
Posted by: Janie Dean | Monday, June 25, 2012 at 10:28 AM