I am back now from doing quite a few warehouse shifts over the past couple of weeks, have been working in bottlepick to work through the backlog of orders which I think is now all caught up on. Basically I was moving wine from the pallets onto the racking for the other members of staff to then put into everyone’s boxes :).
Anyway, here is what I have learnt from working in the warehouse:
The Wine Society takes the safety and well being of its staff very seriously, 1 way system implemented, 2 metre minimum distance between all members of staff, facemasks available if needed, water is also provided in individual bottles.
Although not all the fastest throughput, even running on limited members of staff in the warehouse its amazing how much can actually be done.
A full case of wine is heavy, its around 15kg for a 12 bottle case - pretty sure they get heavier as the day progresses!
Heaviest cases of wine are actually a case of 24 half bottles as there is quite a lot of glass in them!
Everyone loves Society Rioja, White Burgundy, Sabina Tempranillo, Duo Des Mers and Society Claret - kept me busy just keeping up with those in bottlepick!
Different countries have varying levels of box quality, I found that the German, Austrian, French, Australian and NZ wines seem to have good boxes, worst boxes seem to be from Italy as they seem to be very thin (but still do the job).
Pallet pump trucks are great for moving very heavy pallets around, although does take a certain skill to move them through tighter gaps and stop them once rolling!
At times of need, Wine Society staff pull together to ‘just get it done’, have seen various staff from departments around the business just muck in to get things flowing smoothly so that we don’t disappoint members, staff members from marketing, finance, merchandising, member services were all helping.
Anyway, hopefully we can get back to normal at some point - whatever normal is these days!
Just wanted to mention that there is always a huge amount of thought that goes on behind the scenes that members hardly ever see but The Wine Society looks after its staff so that we can help you guys out to get your delicious wine
Maybe this would have sorted out my lack of weightlifting woes too!
It’s a shame that a) I still have a full time job and b) travelling to Stevenage (which is not London, despite what one of the recent trust pilot reviews may claim) doesn’t count as essential travel!
11 out of 10 to you, Sir!!
At various times in my career, I found myself doing unfamiliar jobs when circumstances dictated, like starting up a massive power plant, which was physically arduous, painfully noisy and TBH dangerous. But you just get on with it!
So to all the Society staff who have donned a brown warehouse coat and the necessary(presumably hard hat, gloves etc) PPE, then you have my sincere admiration. After a shift of lugging around 15kg boxes, then the evening respite of a glass of wine or a cold beer with your dinner must be a very attractive prospect!
And when this is all over, many of you will be able to exclaim - “I was there!!”
Thank you @M1tch and all your colleagues for what you are doing.
Great insight into the warehouse too. Just shows the society rightly cares about its staff first. Making sure everyone stays safe has to come before people’s wine orders.
Thanks @M1tch (and the warehouse team) for all your hard work. Just received delivery of 3 half cases of supplies… some Seguret rose, xino jv and some tio pepe!
I didn’t really see any names, addresses or complete orders etc going by as its on the belt going through bottle pick - I was on the other side of the racking (which are 2 metres wide) basically feeding boxes of wine to those then putting the various wines in the boxes ready to be sent out.
Thank you @M1tch and all of your colleagues.
I had ordered 2 customer mixed cases that would have been scheduled for dispatch the next day after the closedown. So I imagine my order was amongst the very last of the backlog. The two boxes were safely received on Wed and Thurs last week.
Obviously when ordering, I was unaware that mixed cases were soon to cause such extra problems. So I am doubly grateful for all your efforts.
Thank you again and stay safe.
I enjoyed my ‘volunteer’ shifts in Bottle Pick too. Mouthwatering choice compared with stocks I had at home Was amazed to see quite a few people ordering 12 bottles of Society’s Fino. Great wine but that’s a lot of Fino! And single bottles - to the extent I thought Ewan was still sending bottles out to journalists. Otherwise reactions to members’ selections ranged from Nice one! to Don’t blame you…
Either they are pessimistic about how long this will last, or optimistic about how thirsty they will be this summer. I know it’s technically a fortified wine, but I don’t think this is the demographic who will be subbing it for Buckfast
But since TWS restarted selling wine after lockdown members can only buy complete cases. If the member drinks TWS Fino and hasn’t got any, the only way they can get more is to buy a case, and they are probably thinking that it will last.
@M1tch are you still working some shifts at the warehouse? I’d be fascinated to find out how things are going now we’re allowed to pick our own bottles again (in part because I’ve got three separate orders in at the moment, one pre-mixed case, one self-mixed case and one case of one thing and was wondering what the impact of this on you guys is!).
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