Happy Holidays from Maine!

Greetings from a snowy but beautiful Maine!

On behalf of Tim and myself, Happy Holidays! We hope this holiday season finds you all well and happy. Best wishes for a wonderful holiday and terrific new year! Best, Carla

I see from the many unopened emails in my inbox that I’m woefully behind in returning emails and other messages lately. My regrets for the delays, and it may be a while yet before I catch up, so thank you for your patience and understanding. Many of you—perhaps knowing my tendency to take on many projects simultaneously—have already presumed correctly that with the addition of LL Bean to my usual mix that I must be “flat out” (well put Nicole). What can I say except, you know me well!

This year our Christmas card will be of this email variety, so best wishes to you all for a wonderful holiday! Please see below for some general notes about what our “pack” has been up to lately, and please see our website (http://home.maine.rr.com/ctssyount/Index.html) or blog (http://ctssyount.blogspot.com/) for more photos and other anecdotes. (You are most welcome to forward this email to anyone else who might be interested. Thanks in advance). Again, all our best and Happy Holidays!

If you’ve been following our website and blog, then you know I’ve been working 1st shift as a seasonal employee during the “peak” at the LL Bean warehouse in nearby Freeport. Yesterday was my 20th day in a row nonstop (we added Saturdays in November, and then Sundays too at Thanksgiving, so it’s been quite the marathon). With the possible exception of our multi-day delivery of Sacajawea (sailboat) from BVI to Grenada, I don’t think I’ve ever been quite this tired (but in a “good tired” kind of way, you know?). Like most of us out there, I’ve often worked 7 days/week to meet a deadline or whatever, but for me that usually entailed working the weekends more at my own schedule and pace. So this is the first time I’ve pulled this many days in a row where I punch a clock between 5am and 7am for an 8-10 hour shift (and if we punch in at 5:03 we’re considered late). I haven’t punched a time clock since my days at Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort in Oregon, and I had forgotten what that was like; but you get used to it.

As noted in the blog, the physical demands of a picker’s job are notable since we walk 8-12 miles/day to cover the huge warehouse, and there is lots of lifting and climbing as well. I was looking for something physical…..and LL Bean has certainly not disappointed me! Add to that our typical Maine winter where going to work means shoveling out your car before and after work, and you start to see how living in a cold climate can add a more “physical” element to life. Thank goodness there have been some weeks when Tim’s schedule allowed him to be home, and bless his heart for those days when he was out there with me at 4:15am to help ensure I got to work on time. I’ve got to hand it to the regular employees at Bean who do this every year just so customers can receive gifts on time. But then, Mainers are known for being pretty hearty folks.

Tim is still working with JDSU as a business development manager and is still a road warrior, traveling well into 60-75 percent of the time. When he’s home he’s still taking Aikido and has become a pretty dedicated student – working toward his 4th kyu for those familiar with the process. I can certainly see the benefits because at 48 he’s probably in about as good shape as anyone I know. As you can see by the photos above of my first “skijoring” experience with Samantha and Kennedy, we stay outdoors quite a bit with our three dogs. Since all three of them have some Husky mix, they also seem to enjoy winter sports (Samantha especially is in her element, and when the snow flies sometimes we have difficulty getting her to come inside). So to those down South who ask why we don’t come down there and “thaw out” – I can only say you must have us confused with someone else, because we’re loving it! :>)

We’re both still actively involved in our local Portland community as volunteers, especially all things related to water. We recently completed additional seamanship training from the US Coast Guard; and this training, along with Carla’s involvement in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, is part of our longer-term plan to move more into marine oriented jobs over the next few years (stay tuned for more on this later as it evolves).

As noted above, you can always find the latest news from our "pack" anytime at our website: http://home.maine.rr.com/ctssyount/Index.html (To navigate within the site, click on the links within the text or any of the "navigation links" on the left). The blog address is: http://ctssyount.blogspot.com/ where you’ll find additional photos and anecdotes of all kinds. And please feel free to forward this email or the website/blog addresses to others if you like.

And as always, we look forward to staying in touch and hearing what your "pack" is up to also. Woof!
Cheers! Carla

"My goal in life is to be the person my dog thinks I am" unknown

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Mark Twain

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." Aesop

"If we attempt to control what other people know or don't know, then we are attempting to control them."

"Family is the people in our lives who treat us with kindness and respect, and who also stand up for us when others are not treating us that way in our absence and we aren’t there to stand up for ourselves. If we don't fulfill these basic acts of human kindness for someone else, then we haven't earned the right to call someone our family -- we are merely their relatives.....and not very nice ones."

"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist; And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist; And then they came for the Jews, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew; And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."--Martin Niemöller

Winding up LL Bean "peak" seasonal work

We are finally coming to the end of seasonal work at LL Bean for the holiday "peak." If you've followed earlier installments (see earlier ones lower in this blog using the link "Older Posts"), then you know the pace since Thanksgiving has increased dramatically.

Saturday, Dec 22 was for some of us (including me) our 20th day working in a row without a day off. Starting in November, Monday-Saturday became mandatory (as expected when we were hired), and then at Thanksgiving Sundays were added as well but on a voluntary basis. Now I've always been a soft touch, so when they ask us to work Sundays to help people get their Christmas gifts on time, and I think about all those adorable kid's snowsuits and sleds I'm picking out there, how can one say no?

LL Bean does their part to help out employees who are working extended shifts and every day of the week. We all watch for the safety cart which patrols the warehouse loaded with water and "pick me up" treats (chocolate, animal crackers, granola bars, bubble gum, even an ice scraper for those snowier days). We have instructor-led stretch breaks twice each shift where we have a chance to stretch out those muscles we're working so hard to prevent repetitive use injuries (actually the stretch breaks are done year round). And if you work Sundays your name is entered in drawings (the final Sunday featured free gas cards and even 3 flat-screen tv's -- one for each shift). I didn't win one, but it was fun to hear the drawings and the excitement of those who did. Very cool.

I think for me the "peak" I noticed was last Saturday. On Sundays I typically started my shift at 5am so I could get out by 1pm, but Saturdays were what we called "regularly scheduled days" which means you work your usual shift just like any other day, so I went in at 7am as usual. By 9am that morning the warehouse -- as big as it is -- seemed to be bursting at the seams with so many people and so much activity that it was almost intimidating -- but yet exhilarating at the same time. In those busiest days when we have 100k+ orders to get out, they pull in "day hikers" -- these are employees from other departments and towns who volunteer to be trained to work in the warehouse to help us in distribution during those especially heavy order days.

On these busiest of order days when it's "all hands on deck", and with the extra addition of the day hikers, that warehouse is really something. There are people and hoppers and flatbeds and shopping carts speeding here and there like travelers rushing to catch trains at Grand Central Station. It becomes quite comical sometimes when 4 or 5 of us approach the same intersection in the warehouse with our heavily ladden flatbeds or carts, and since there are no road signals we of course use courtesy and take turns about who goes through it first. This is important since most of our equipment is quite heavy and dangerous if we run over someone. We follow what we call the "yellow brick road" -- actually it's not brick, but yellow lines drawn on the concrete floor which separate walking lanes from areas where we "pull over" to get merchandise from the shelves. These "directional" pathways help, but there is still no replacement for courtesy and being constantly aware of where you are and who's nearby.

When I zipped over to zone 24 where the backpacks and personal organizers are located, I could hear the constant hummmm of those computerized sewing machines as the monogram staff personalized one item after another for someone (tote bags, back packs, organizers, robes, pajamas -- you name it and they can monogram it!).

Later I might wander (at warp speed of course) to the back of the warehouse where the "low bay picking" (where I work) ends and "high bay" begins. High bay (shown in photo at left, see the person standing under the light in the blue shirt) is the area where the shelves are something like 3 stories high, and the pickers there operate forklift-like machines which raise and lower them up and down the high bays (hence the name) where they pick the merchandise off the shelves. Because of the risk of falling they wear harnesses which keep them tethered to the mechanized hopper in case they slip -- but I understand that even that doesn't prevent them from getting pretty bruised up if they miss, since the harness must be loose enough to allow them freedom of movement -- so this means if they accidentally step off that platform they have room to swing and crash back into the metal platform before they stop. This is not a job for the squeamish, and you can always recognize high-bay personnel when they come through our area because they are fully "suited up" in the harness and other safety gear. Reminds me of my days working at Lockheed Martin with the Air Force and all those pilots running around in flight suits.

When in the warehouse we move fast because as I mentioned earlier, we have production quotas that we're expected to meet. Pickers are supposed to pick items at a certain speed (230 units per hour), and packers are expected to pack them at a certain speed, and the same applies for monogramming and alterations. It's a different kind of world from what I'm used to in my professional career, and I have developed a new respect for people who do this every day. It's not easy, and the stresses may be different from the ones we find in an office environment -- but the pressure is just as much, just different.

However, the LL Bean culture is what made the job appealing to me, and I'm guessing it's what keeps some people coming back from one season to the next. Like families, all work places have a culture. Some families are known for having a culture of mutual respect, kindness, graciousness and courtesy; while others present a culture that is not quite as nice. The same is true of work places. I was drawn to LL Bean because of their known culture of a strong work ethic, exemplary service to our customers, and respect and consideration for each other as employees. As I finish up this year, I've already received a recommendation letter which allows me to return next year if I like unrestricted (which means I can apply to any area where there are openings). This was a great experience and I am very glad to have had the opportunity to go through this season with everyone else during the LL Bean "peak." To new friends from Bean from all over Maine, cheers and Happy Holidays. I look forward to our "reunion" gathering in February!

A day in the life.....of a "picker" at LL Bean

Welcome to the latest installment of "A day in the life...." of a picker at LL Bean during holiday peak season. :>)

I enjoy writing about the experiences and anecdotes that make up everyday life, and since working in the warehouse at LL Bean is so different from anything I've ever done before, I wanted to try and capture what it's like. So if -- like me -- you enjoy learning about other things through the experiences of others, then please read on. Enjoy!
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At LL Bean we are in full swing now with peak season. Working Mon thru Sat is mandatory, and often Sundays are added too when needed (voluntary, but encouraged for anyone who can make it). On top of the 6-7 days/week, we also often work early starts and late stays when the workflow warrants it (you come in before your shift usually starts and work past the usual end time). Often it seems like I live at the warehouse now since I arrive in the dark and leave in the dark (in Maine it gets dark around 4pm this time of year). Mornings start early at our house these days, since my alarm goes off around 4:30am so I can make it to Bean by 6, and on the weeks when Tim is out of town (which is often), getting all 3 dogs and myself ready for the day (especially when my car needs to be dug out from the 10 inches of snow like we had this morning) -- well let's just say life gets pretty interesting! The early starts and late stays are not required but encouraged during the heaviest ordering days.

When I started in September, our orders were something like 75,000 things to be picked each day -- but at our update last Saturday they predicted the orders on Monday will be 260,000. Wow. As our workflow leader says, "Busy, busy."

After working as a regular picker for a few months like the rest of the seasonals, they've now trained and moved me to what is called "tagging." It's sort of like picking, but instead of picking items that are dumped right down the conveyor belts to go directly to shipping, we pick items where customers have requested some type of special service, such as monogramming or alterations.

I must have gotten my units-per-hour numbers up enough to warrant the new training, and since I'm still there, I guess that means I'm doing okay, although I'm pretty sure there are plenty of pickers out there who pick faster than me. However, where I seem to thrive is in the accuracy department. And for tagging work, accuracy is much more important -- because if we send something to be altered or monogrammed and we've picked the wrong thing, that costs the company money and the customer delays in getting what they ordered in the first place. I still do regular picking when they have an especially tight goal and "all hands" are needed, but I do prefer the tagging and am glad to be learning something new.

Since tagging is more varied it means we walk even more, and according to my pedometer I've increased my coverage from averaging 6-8 miles per day to now somewhere between 10-12 or more (my personal record so far is 20 miles in one day, but of course that was a 10-hour shift -- the maximum they will allow us to work at this pace).

In addition to the walking, taggers also do quite a bit of lifting since we work with heavy plastic bins that ride on the flatbeds we push around the warehouse as we collect merchandise to be altered in some way. When our cart is loaded with full bins and it's time to deliver the bins to their designated spot, that involves lifting they loaded bins from the flatbeds to the rolling racks or pallets where they are staged until special services (monogramming or alterations) is ready for them. Walking, lifting, bending, squatting, climbing -- it's all required to get the job done and it's a great workout.

Doing this 6-7 days per week at this pace (often up to 10 hours/day when we have a tight goal) could be considered grueling I suppose -- but I prefer to think of it as getting a great workout and getting paid for it! After all, I'm getting the same toning and aerobic exercise that many people pay a gym or personal trainer huge fees to obtain. I think my friend Kat described it well when she commented that it was "exercise disguised as a job." Pretty accurate.

And I have to admit, at 45, I feel pretty good when I see that I'm keeping up with those 20-something waifs who are much younger and perhaps a score or two lighter than I am (or perhaps that should be "a stone or two lighter"?). Each day I feel a bit stronger and I can zip up the stairs to the time-clock a bit faster. It's a good feeling.

And since I worked my way through high school and college working retail at Sears and dealing daily with customers, it's a great change of pace to work instead more in the "background" -- in the warehouse where I focus just on the merchandise and my other team mates.

And speaking of team mates, I really like the "environment" that LL Bean creates for its employees. Teamwork, personal responsibility, and working together is huge, and anyone who can't cut that doesn't last very long unless they are willing to learn how to be part of the team. It's great and it makes everyone's lives so much easier when we all work together and do our 50 percent.

And to me the entire process of warehouse operations is fascinating (of course I've always been easily entertained, but there you go!). I enjoy walking and pushing my cart from one end of the 650,000-sf warehouse to the other. I enjoy the sound of the hiss and clack of the conveyor belts overhead as they move merchandise-laden boxes to the "replenishment" department. These are the guys (because the job seems to attract mostly men) who lift those heavy boxes off the conveyor belts and load them onto their flatbed carts, and then wheel the carts around the warehouse looking for empty slots in the racks where new merchandise can go to replace a box emptied by the pickers (replenish the stock, hence the name). Often the empty slot is well over their heads, and the boxes they lift weigh 50-75 pounds each -- and they do this all day. These guys tend to be young and brawny, but I've been amazed to see a few men that are much older than me and not too beefy doing the same job. Pretty impressive. If it wasn't for the replenishment guys, we pickers wouldn't be able to do our jobs because of course there would be nothing to pick.

I also enjoy pushing a loaded shopping cart over to the manual singles packing line on the far west side of the warehouse. These are the items that must be manually packed, so for those items we don't empty our hoppers filled with merchandise onto the conveyor belts which angle down through large openings in the 2nd floor (where pickers work) to go to automatic packing on the 1st floor below. The manual packers on our floor carefully pack the items for shipping. The packing job tends to attract many of our workers who have immigrated here from other countries. Maine has a large per capita population of immigrants who have relocated from Somalia or Afghanistan and other countries. And it's great to stop to chat with the Somali women who work at the packing stations in their native dress of flowing robes from head to toe. I'm not sure I would want to be a packer because where we walk all day, they mostly stand in one place to do their jobs. But it's great to see how many opportunities there are out there for people who are willing to get out there and find them -- and I've been very impressed with the work ethic of the immigrant men and women who work at Bean and elsewhere. Those of us born and raised in the US take so incredibly much for granted, and I am reminded of that every day.

I enjoy the hummmmm of the computerized sewing machines that the monogramming staff uses, and when I deliver merchandise to their staging area -- it's interesting to see them standing behind their stations wearing their safety glasses and focusing on their work as they monogram some extra large tote or Santa Sack for some unknown person out there. Very cool to watch.

And being a person who's sewing abilities are limited to the lose button, I'm in awe of those men and women working in the alterations area. They seem to effortlessly command their high-tech machines to sew that custom hem in that pair of unfinished pants or specially tailor that dress shirt that someone may have bought as a gift for someone else.

As in any production or warehouse environment, safety is a concern because of course there are many ways to get hurt -- especially if you get careless. For instance, if I forget which step I'm on when I climb up the ladder attached to my hopper and step down too soon, falling backwards from a few feet in the air onto the concrete floor is a real potential risk. And this time of year when our aisles are a freeway of heavy rolling carts meeting at intersections and going in all directions, and aisles get narrower as they become filled with stacks of empty cardboard boxes waiting for recycling, or carts filled with merchandise staged for packing or altering -- then if we don't all look where we're going all the time -- we could hurt ourselves or someone else pretty easily.

But I think this is where LL Bean shines, because they stress the "just deal with it" attitude, and they expect everyone to take care of things a little at a time, instead of letting things pile up and becoming a problem because no one wanted to bother with dealing with it along the way. They expect everyone to clean up their own messes, so to speak, and not "leave the mess" for someone else or "pass the buck" onto someone else. What a concept eh? I identify with that "just deal with it" mentality, so for me, life at LL Bean -- and other places where people share that same "it's everybody's responsibility" attitude -- I find life there is pretty good.

And along with the team environment and the exercise I get each day, probably my favorite thing about working at Bean is that it's a great way to see all the cool stuff that LL Bean sells. Did you know they sold field coats for dogs? How cool is that? Considering we have 3 dogs I'm especially intrigued.

Pickers are also in a great position to know what is popular with LL Bean customers this season. Perhaps our information may not be as scientific as that from the marketing guys with their charts and graphs, but if you pick scores and scores of the same thing day after day, then you get a pretty good idea of what customers like. From what I've seen, the field coats are pretty popular (both for dogs and people); and right now I'm picking lots of robes, pajamas, Santa Sacks, stockings, and those famous LL Bean "boat and tote" bags for monogramming; so I'm guessing a lot of people will be getting those this Christmas. When I pick in the shoe area, I seem to pick lots of those "Wicked Good Slippers" and those cool backpacks on wheels for kids. And next to the boat and tote bags we pick so often, those personal organizers (like toiletry kits that hang) are probably the single item I pick the most. I think I bought Tim one of those about 10 years ago for his travel, but now they have many more sizes and colors than before; so apparently, lots of other people bought them too.

So that's it for this installment of "a day in the life of a picker/tagger". I hope you enjoyed the journey with me and I'll try to write again as things evolve. Until then, have fun doing whatever it is that you do everyday!

Cheers! cy