The sense of freedom doesn’t come necessarily from being mobile… but rather from releasing yourself from getting anxious over things that might or might not happen, and are usually out of your control anyway. When you’re agile and trust in your ability to handle the ‘bad stuff’ when it occurs, you become a lot less anxious overall in life. That’s where my freedom comes from. And it’s definitely not ‘pretending’. That we choose to be nomadic, is just a lifestyle choice. There are plenty of valid reasons to choose to be stationary, but a false notion that sitting at home waiting for things to break is somehow more sane – is not one of them.

And as in anything in life before signing up for a commitment – knowing the cost to back out is key. You decide if you can handle it or not. In the case of our Amazon gig, the back-out cost was very low. I believe it was something like that if we didn’t get 48-hrs notice, we had to pay our drug screening costs, which was only like $60. There was nothing about the camping, and in most campgrounds, Amazon pays directly to the campground only for the eligible nights. We approached it that we could walk away at anytime if we wanted or needed to.

We tried to reframe it as “getting paid to workout” – by the end of our month we had both lost weight and were in physically great shape.

That USA Today article you linked to comes across as exceedingly negative – “Many have lost their homes and live on the road, home schooling their children along the way. Others are retirees who had planned to see the country but now work along the way to supplement depleted investments. … This is supposed to be freedom and a good life. Now it is a sad note.”

A sad note?!!?

Actually – making a living via temporary jobs while having the freedom to travel the country without the burden of a fixed home base is exactly what a lot of people consider the good life. I don’t remember meeting any other Workcampers at Amazon who felt forced to be there, most (at our location) thought it was a great job and a great way to work a month or two to build up the funds to afford several months of play and travel.

– Chris

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2010-11-26-amazon-temporary-workers_N.htm

Let’s be 100% frank — anyone thinking of this, ought to be GOOD SHAPE. If not — it will be NOT GOOD. That “minor” fact often gets lost in the AMAZ sales stuff.

Facts — what a concept.
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Can’t say about permanent positions. But do recall several folks on temp status who got hired on permanent after meeting all requirements (attendance, performance, etc.), or at the very least – were able to stay on into January.

There are a couple of things I wanted to mention. First, mandatory breaks are usually a result of a state labor law, so that might vary with the location. Also – it doesn’t surprise me that Amazon isn’t using Express this year. Temp agencies are expensive, usually costing a client at least another 50% of the hourly salary. So if you were making $11/hr, Amazon was paying Express probably around $17/hr for you. If they don’t need the services the agency provides – like screening potential staffers – they could save that extra $6.50/hr, and offer higher salaries to the temps. Or they could just hire more people for the same salaries. Either way, they have more flexibility with their money. (And that’s why temp jobs disappear when the economy drops.)

Keep in mind, though – if you registered with Express to work at Amazon last year you can continue to look for opportunities with Express. I think all their offices are independently owned, but they do communicate with each other and will send your test scores and work records to their other offices as needed. I just finished a long-term assignment with them and specifically asked about that when I knew I was going to be moving. Express has offices in many states, so that might be something to consider. (And it’s probably true of other nationwide temp agencies as well.)

I so envy the experience you had out there because in Nevada, it was just one step above working as prison labor. The only difference was that we got to go home at night (or whenever they made us leave early, which happened about 50 percent of the time). You’ve heard me bitch about it so I’ll quit.

Just glad to see that you guys made some decent cash to keep funding one of the best lifestyles in the world! Congrats!

I’m the same way, and this is a critical distinction that most folks don’t understand. Jobs are not just about the time you’re at your desk/station/whathaveyou, but about any extra time necessary to remain employed. Commutes, unpaid breaks, etc, should all be carefully considered when looking at a job. In my own job as a dog walker, I never thought about the fact that I’d often be driving to and from the office to pick up and drop off keys, all of that time being unpaid. Sure, it’s “part of the job”, but it’s hours of my life that are being taken without pay.