Touring...

 

It means different things to different people.  Back in the day, big road bikes were often referred to as touring bikes.  It might be what a performer does while playing multiple dates out.  Some people think of it as taking an extended journey.  For many, though, it means getting to a specific site, often led by a guide.

Today, we will be touring an Amazon Distribution Center.  Joan found this opportunity, asked if I was interested ("Absolutely!") and signed us up.  Its been on our agenda for a month now, and today is the day.

She is always interested in how things work.  When we went to the Gear Fest at Sweetwater Music years ago, our sales rep gave us a tour of the facility - besides the music store, stages, recording studios, I think the area that fascinated her most was their shipping and receiving area.  A lot of stacked storage, automated forklift-type things to get the higher stacked items, and conveyor belts to move it to stations where orders are boxed, then moved on to be loaded into trucks/trailers.

This should be interesting.  She was really hoping to get a tour at the Amazon facility in Tolleson, where they make some deliveries using large drones - no tours available there.  Yet.

Amazon gives you guidelines on what to wear and info that you will be walking a mile or more, including some stairs.  No cameras or video recording devices, but we can take our phones.  No loose clothing or jewelry.

I'll post more on this later.

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So, how was the tour?

Interesting.  The take away: with this being just one of their Fulfillment Centers, you really appreciate how HUGE Amazon is.

On the way there, a pickup passing us on I-10 kicked up a rock into our windshield... big ol' star chip.  "I guess we'll see what can be done with that after the tour."

We were at the Amazon building early...

 Going inside, there are a bunch of entrances that require a ID badge to scan to open the doors.  No sign about the tour.  Just this...

 A guy from Security came over and told us: "Just wait out here - someone will be out to take the tour in."  We were the first ones there, and over the next half hour or so about 25 people showed up to take the tour.

You can't take photos or video, have to leave your phone "in your pocket, with the camera facing in."  Their house, their rules.  The guy leading the tour took us to an employee lunch room where we got fitted up with headsets that provided hearing protection with duplex audio, so you could hear him and ask questions.  Good thing, because it is loud in there. 

The guide took us to several different areas in this massive building (he called it "The largest building in Goodyear; about the size of 14 football fields.  Four levels.  Everything tracked by computer and much of it that seemed random.  I expected bins of stuff, with people picking stuff out of those bins and putting it in boxes on conveyor belts.  Not even close... conveyances that look like tall racks of bins arranged in a huge cube, with a robot (think: a HUGE Rumba) underneath that propels it around like a 40 lane urban interstate highway.  More conveyor belts, ramps, and circular slides than I could have imagined, and fewer workers.  Don't get me wrong, there were scads of workers, but an endless mass of items and packages moving all around.

We walked a lot, stood and watched a lot, climbed stairs, walked some more, stood some more.  The tour attendees asked some interesting questions, some moderately stupid questions, and tried to remain in "two single-file lines"... some of these people obviously never had to line up for anything.

After about 90 minutes of that, we were ushered back to the area where we came in, asked if we wanted him to take photos of us...

 Then, back out into the blazing sun.  I have a new appreciation for what happens after you click "Buy Now."

We went out for lunch, during which I called SafeLite to see what it would cost to get a big windshield chip repaired.  You have to wade through their 800-number that gets you to a centralized booking center - it took 15 minutes just to find out that they charge $165 dollars to repair one chip.  Pass.

We stopped for fuel (cheaper on this end of town... and will be even cheaper next year when a HUGE Buc-ee's opens in Goodyear).  Do I seem to be using the word "HUGE" a lot in this post?

From there, I drove to that SafeLite business to see if they really charge $165 for one windshield chip.  The nice lady at their front desk said, "That is kind of the going rate."

To which I replied, "No, it really isn't."

To which she replied, "Well, that is what the national office tells us, but since you are here in person, we can do it for $64."  Yeah, $101 less than what I was quoted on the phone.  I asked how soon we could get in, and it a bit of luck, the guy at the counter next to me was cancelling his 3:00 appointment.  The nice lady said, "How about right now?"

It took about 40 minutes (as estimated) and the tech brought out my keys and took us out to the car to show me the repair.  I'm satisfied.

Yeah, all this kinda ate up the whole day.