Well, maybe not yours … but you there, yeah you in the back! I wrapped yours!
Of course this only applies if someone bought you something off Amazon, and chose the gift-wrap option. In the city where I live, we have a ginormous Amazon shipping facility and every Christmas they offer charitable endeavors the opportunity to become seasonal workers and their earnings go to the organization.
I spent Saturday afternoon wrapping stuff for my kids’ high-school band. They are going to the march in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena next year —January 2013 — and we have got to crank out the fund-raisers to pay for that puppy!
In the four hours I was there (with one 15-minute break), I wrapped 67 gifts (they gave me credit for 70, though — nice Amazon!). These gifts ranged from Kindle and Amazon gift cards (have you ever wrapped an envelope?) to a potted Amarillis bulb. For the latter, like all other odd-shaped things, they provide blue boxes, which you assemble, place the object in, and stuff with some paper. Then you affix a ribbon and the gift tag, throw it into the box with the shipping info in an envelope, slap on the shipping label and you’re done. Off it goes deep into the bowels of the aforementioned ginormous warehouse, and it’s on to the next package.
You keep track of how many things you’ve wrapped by saving the adhesive backing from the gift tag. These you present at the end of your shift for counting and you get a receipt.
Some things I’ve learned:
I hope to God I never have to work in a Amazon shipping facility. The place is riddled with conveyor belts and other machinery that is LOUD. On top of that, they blare music. Some of it was Christmas music. Some of it was AC/DC. Occasionally people start going “woooooo … woooooo … wooooooo …” and it travels throughout the factory. ?
I have tender fingers. By Sunday afternoon, my right index finger was throbbing. I assume it took the brunt of the intensive paper folding and holding-while-taping occurred. Ouchie. Also, once I bent my fingernail back. Ow Central.
People are not buying DVDs and CDs any more, at least not for Christmas presents and not many at that. I was initially stoked because they provide little sleeves for the discs, and all you have to do is slap that bow on and you’re practically done. One minute tops. Depending on if you have to put together a box, or err in your wrapping paper selection, another package might take five to 10 minutes!
Ironically, given the above, the most frequent thing I wrapped was gift sets of the Harry Potter movies. I think I wrapped four of those.
The weirdest thing was a mathematics textbook some guy got for his dad. According to the gift tag, he knows how much Dad loves poring over good old math texts! :eek: I hope he’s right.
Afterward I went home and laid down, exhausted, for approximately 15 minutes until I had to make dinner. A band mother’s work is never done.
I **KNEW **I’d finally catch you, dog-burner!
What a fun experience, now when I order something w/ a gift note I’ll be especially cryptic just to keep the rappers on their toes. ‘I snort the nose Lucifer, banana banana?’
It was sort of fun in a sneaky way to read the notes when I first started the shift, but honestly after I while I wanted to get as many wrapped as possible to maximize my time there!
They paid me (or rather, the band) 75 cents a package. Today I got an email saying they’re upping it to $1. And the 2am-6am and 4am-6am time slots get $1.25. The mere thought exhausts me too much.
I’ve never been tempted to pay extra for the gift wrapping, but now that I know the money goes to a good cause (and least sometimes, partly), I’d be more likely to consider it.
What does it say about me that my first reaction to the OP was
That’s awesome! Great insight, thanks for sharing.
I totally would volunteer to do that if we had the opportunity in my area (and for a cause I was involved in). When I was in band my parents all served concessions at the ballpark in Cleveland. This sounds much less…steamy
I don’t remember the exact title but it was something like Handy Equations for Higher Mathematics. It seems like there was something in the title like the equations would prepare you for stuff that was more complex. I read it and went then Zzzzzz.
Neat! I actually sprang for wrapping for three books I bought for my Dad, since the last time I sent him an Amazon present he was super puzzled till we talked on the phone and I asked him if he got the book. He figured it was a birthday present but didn’t know from who and he didn’t look at the packing slip where they printed the note.
So, I was curious if each of the three books I ordered got wrapped individually with separate notes (there was a lank for each and I filled them out) or did they get stacked and wrapped together like I would have if I did it myself? Did this come up at all for you?
No, it’s the 2013 parade, which happens on January 1. So, a little more than one year from now.
Each present is wrapped separately. Each individual present has its own gift tag. In some instances there were multiple things that were ordered, but only one or two got wrapped. The note is printed on both the packing slip and on this little individual adhesive gift tag, which we stuck to the center of the package, with a ribbon.
My mother was interested in the paper. Instead of big rolls that you had to cut or something, there were multiple sizes of pre-cut paper. The paper was folded with one hard crease, and at one end was a folded-over end, if that makes sense. We were told to use three pieces of tape only. I mostly complied.
A long time ago, the Funky Winkerbean comic strip (back when it was funny) had their band practicing to march in that parade. The band director shouted, “Everybody line up behind the float!” The “float” was a kid’s red wagon containing a geranium.
I love wrapping presents.
67 presents in four hours, probably not as much.
We direct shipped gifts to the parents and in-laws, so not much wrapping for me (yet). How much does Amazon charge for wrapping? It’s like 3 bucks right? That’s a pretty hefty margin for Amazon. I’m glad they raised it up to a dollar per. 75 cents is kinda scroogy.
My mom’s elementary school used to do a gift wrap booth at the local mall as a PTO fundraiser. This close to Christmas we easily kept up that rate. No bags or envelopes, either.
PM me with which school and keep us posted about fundraisers. I’d be tickled to help local kids go to the Rose Parade.
Good on you, Ellen Cherry! My HS band marched in the Rose Parade a billion years ago. It was difficult, because the earth was still cooling so the steam made it hard to see, plus there were piles of dinosaur poop everywhere. (In actuallity, I did step in horse poop during it. Fun times, eh?)
It’s an experience of a lifetime for a band geek, so hopefully they get to go.
then Zzzzzz.