Great job terrible management
Pros
The used department is an amazing group of tech nerds in an open collaborative workspace. There is ample flow of movement, learning about equipment and comparing notes as creators. There is also a lot of organic friendship and camaraderie. The pay is decent for a job that doesn't quite shackle you to a desk or make you deal with customers. The checker/indexer job is without a doubt one of the best warehouse jobs around. The diversity among the staff is great though it leans male, the diversity among management does not exist but that is to be expected for a family company from NYC
Cons
For a company that functions on logistical systems, the magnitude of inefficiency and outdated systems is a nightmare. 99% of operations run on an IBM AS400 Mainframe which has both limited capabilities and frequent glitches, to say nothing of the learning curve compared to newer products from Salesforce and others. Numerous holes in the system are therefore created, but rather than building better systems, most issue are resolved tediously by employees who end up becoming pigeon-holed in that task either against their will or in an effort to maintain the security of their employment. Many bottlenecks are thus created by various employees and many useful roles simply do not exist and extra work is spread between a small percentage of the most competent staff members. As if this wasn't enough, management avoids the nuanced logistical challenges in favor of tangible numerical output. In the used department specifically this looks like trying to manage an auto parts manufacturing operation, but the reality is we process used consumer goods which are sent to us indiscriminately. The actual work output thus varies on the staff's ability to manage through process bugs and assess products which range wildly in testing difficulty depending on the employee's experience with the process and with the wide-ranging equipment. As a team lead I am constantly busy with trying to keep the indexer's work moving along smoothly while making some time to build miniature systems from scratch using basic google workspace tools. If this was all, it would still be a great job, but the team is constantly pressured to work faster even as they are asked to maintain a lower error rate. This politically charges the whole operation and demoralizes the staff as they try to keep up with the demands while continuing to question their job security.
