Pros
Day 1 benefits (healthcare, dental, vision) Good pay for a starter job. Free stock given to you upon a 2 year commitment to the company. Random prizes given out for trivia, games, or just coming in to work (I've won 5 prizes so far, things from a $5 gift card up to a $79 kindle) As far as the labor goes, most of the physical labor jobs in the facility I work in (Florence NJ) are extremely easy to learn. Some of them are more physical than others, but you do get rotated out of a physical job at the end of the lunch hour, so your body isn't going through the same stress motions all day long. You get two (2) fifteen minute (15) breaks((which are NOT mandatory by law in New Jersey unless you are under the age of 17 )) Our facility also offers FREE shuttle service to the riverline train transport in the area for associates. You are give Paid Time Off (P.T.O.) for 48 hours a year, and Unpaid Time Off (U.P.T.) for 80 hours a year, plus the UPT reloads 20 hours every quarter of the year. On top of all that, you ALSO get PAID vacation which accrues ever other paycheck. I believe there is a Maternity Leave that puts a Mother paid to be out for at least 2 month if not more, and a Paternity leave that is about 2 months paid as well. Amazon also offers 95% tuition paid if you choose to follow in one of five fields of study in certain college courses. Associates are also given free resume, interviewing, computer (excel, microsoft word and others) classes throughout the year if they apply for them in the building and the classes aren't full. There are also pay raises for new hires every 6 months, until you get to your third year, then you top out. However, there are seasonal promotions and regular promotions available randomly throughout the year.
Cons
Some employees are the biggest con I go to right away. You will come up face to face with quite a few people who just don't want to work at all. This means ANY physical labor is "excessive" in their eyes. I watch people in and out all day long perform Time Off Task (T.O.T.) mostly people just wander around talking to friends they made while working here, or family that works here as well. I don't mean just dropping by to say hi and leaving. I'm talking about people taking 3-20 minute blocks of just not working because there isn't a Process Assistant or Area Manager around to catch them. That is my biggest problem with this place. It's not an Amazon problem per say, I would imagine any warehouse would have this issue of "when the cat's away, the mice will play" going on. Just here, the people seem coddled to be honest. Other than that, the physical labor (to be expected) will have you sore the first few weeks especially if you came from a job that didn't require you to be on your feet for 10 hours at a time, lifting boxes or totes most of the day (if you land that job that day) The parking lot is the other negative (which isn't Amazon's fault). The township's fire marshal wouldn't authorize a second entrance/exit for cars, so everyone on that shift has to wait a solid 30mins to an hour to get out during "Peak (early November - mid/late December) Note that during non peak times, it's usually a 5-10 minute wait tops before it's clear driving right out.