Thoughts On Our Time With Camperforce

By the time this posts, we'll have finished our second week of 12 hour days (hopefully) with just one full week of work to go.

The time has gone quickly, though there were many times (usually around 3 am) when it felt like time stood still.

As our time is winding down Chris and I have been talking our thoughts on the whole experience. Here are some of them, in no particular order.

Would we do it again? 
Yes, I think we definitely will do Camperforce again.

What would we do differently?

1. We might opt not to work nights. We chose nights because neither of us are early morning people and with the night shift starting at 6 pm, that was good for us, especially compared to 7 am for the day shift. Plus, nights get paid a bit more per hour and we figured between the two of us, that added up to about $500 over the course of our time here.

But, sleeping during the day is rough. It's cold when we go to bed, but gets warmer as the day goes on, so I wake up several times too warm and that makes me cranky. Plus, people call during the day or we need to have things like repairs done etc. We rarely see the sun, especially after the time change at the end of October.

2. Next time I'll take some time either before we get here or maybe arrive a few days early to cook and stock the freezer w/casseroles and other similar food. Also make sure to have 2 weeks worth of clothes so we don't have to do laundry if we just don't have the time.

Will we come back to this location? 

Quite possibly. We would probably even come back to this campground. I'd never want to stay here for anything resembling a vacation, but for work purposes, it's got a lot of benefits: about the shortest commute of the campgrounds available, laundry, groceries and other services within one mile.

I thought being in Tennessee in the Fall would be nice, but as I said above, I've hardly been outside or seen the sun, so I suppose we could be anywhere. In part, the location will depend on where we plan to go when we finish.

That being said, we have been very impressed with the people at this Amazon fulfillment center (BNA3). Professional and friendly and very approachable. We've chatted with the man who is in charge of the entire building at night (can't remember his tittle) and he's often around on the floor and recognizes us and asks how we are doing. I saw him out scanning and packing boxes on Cyber Monday.

All the managers and area managers that we've dealt with have been equally nice and helpful.

I assume that Amazon will continue to expand this program, so whether we come back here will also depend on what other options become available.

What advice do we have for other who might want to give Camperforce a try? 

1. Get some good shoes. Get two pairs.

2. This is a physical job, but it's doable and it doesn't take long to build up your tolerance. Stock up on Aleve. 

3.  Have a good attitude. Nothing makes a long work day seem even longer than listening to a bunch of complainers.

4. Don't get all worked up about the rates. Where you work it might be different and I don't mean to imply that the folks at BNA 3 were slack about our productivity, but no one ever said anything to  me or any Campers that I know of, about our productivity. Honestly, they are just glad we are there because we show up, don't spend too much time flirting w/our co-workers and stay until the end of our shifts.

5. Don't be afraid to talk to the managers or other leadership. They are happy to talk to you and want to know about your concerns.

6. Remember that compared to campground work, this is a real full time job. It also pays about the best of anything out there for full time RVers and it includes your campground fees.  This is an opportunity to work hard for a few weeks and stockpile some money, so keep that in mind when your feet are aching.

7. Work as much overtime as you can while also being mindful of how you are feeling and if you are wearing yourself out. We crashed and burned at Thanksgiving but seem to have recovered. If we'd kept going and worked the overtime available on Black Friday we might not have had the energy to finish the following week, especially after they changed our schedule.

8. We're big fans of Spark by Advocare. Energy and a better attitude. I call it "Mommy's Little Helper." 

9. It can be as fun (or awful) as you choose to make it.