The Logistics Network has created a unique annual competition, The LogistiX Games, that are a great opportunity for local and regional companies to build employee pride, establish teamwork principles and reinforce the safety standards vital to the industry. When Zappos heard about this competition we just knew we had to take part! Here are the events that our team took place in:

• Pallet Puzzle Sprint
• Pallet Jack Relay
• Pick/Pack Hurdle
• Truck Mini-Marathon
• Box Put (which included throwing a carefully packaged box of three bottles of KY Bourbon a certain distance without breaking them!)

So, how did our team do? Check it out!

GO TEAM!

On August 10th Boy Scout Troop 868 performed a flag raising ceremony here at our Zappos KY Fulfillment Center. The brief ceremony was observed by several Zappos employees as well as the family members of the scouts. Following the ceremony the scouts and their families enjoyed lunch and a tour of our fulfillment center.

Thank you Troop 868!

Here at the KY Fulfillment Center we had the opportunity to give to several families in need by providing children with Zappos backpacks filled with school supplies as well as two new pairs of shoes through our Second Annual Back to School Drive. This drive benefited the Bullitt County Public Elementary Schools. Zappos employees and members of the community donated the school supplies and purchased the shoes through our Outlet Store. Thank you to everyone involved for all the generosity and hard work that went in to making this possible!

Today is the Kentucky All Hands Meeting for all Zappos Fulfillment Center employees! Matter of fact, it's happening right now! Brett is there and these photos are literally from a few minutes ago. We wanted to show the meeting as it is happening!

As you may have seen, on June 1st, the employees from the Vegas headquarters all met at the Henderson Pavilion for this 2nd annual event, and now it's Kentucky's turn.

Just like in Vegas, the 2009 yearbooks were handed out to everyone, and excitement is in the air!

Cinderella’s motto was: ”One shoe can change your life.” The Sisters’ motto is: “One shoe store has changed our lives!” Discovering Zappos.com years ago has been the “land of dreams come true” for two Southern sisters with feet as difficult to fit as Cinderella’s! (Think size 5.5 and 6N…) The added bonus of seeing hundreds of shoes from every conceivable angle without leaving the comfort of our homes can only be topped by Zappos saving the best surprises for last: free shipping both ways and delivery the next business day. Can you say INSTANT gratification?

The real reason for this note is to thank the “team members” in charge of shipping and receiving who spend their days inside the Shepherdsville, Kentucky, Zappos facility. My sister’s birthday present to herself and a sister surprise for me was a visit to Zappos in May 2009. This was a true fantasy adventure loaded with perks.

Prior to our flight to Louisville, while selecting magazines at the airport, Sissy found one with an article about Zappos and their CEO, Tony Hsieh. At that point, I had no idea of the significance of ‘the find’ except that we both love Zappos! Just before boarding, Sissy gave me the itinerary of our adventure for the day and many screams later, we arrived in Louisville. A quick twenty minute drive had us at the front door of the shipping/receiving/outlet of Zappos. Ever wonder how your shoes magically arrive the next day? Hmmm… Louisville is the hub for UPS.

On arrival, the plasma screen in the lobby was flashing a “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” greeting to my sister Alicia. That was cool enough, but was only the beginning of a wild afternoon with the Zappos team members. Sissy asked everyone who materialized in the lobby to sign her magazine while we awaited Stefanie, the representative who created this magical event. Her energy came through the door before she did and we seemed to hit warp speed as she ushered us through the security “phone booth” and into the Internet Café where team members were yelling “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”; waving pom-poms and directing our attention to a birthday cake, crown & huge Zappos bags filled with goodies for us. After much singing, signing (the magazine) and cake eating, we were introduced to the elusive, Craig A.. He even offered to take Sissy’s magazine to Las Vegas and ask Tony Hsieh to autograph it for her!

Then, it was tour time with Byron and Julie. As a member of the photo department, Julie creates many of the incredible photo shots of clothing, shoes and other items found on the website. Nine shots of each shoe in every color, any way you do the math, that’s a lot of shots! She had been asked to create a photo journal of our visit and as an aside, to answer all my questions. Believe it or not, as we passed through the photo department we interrupted a staff meeting (where someone was wearing a pirate hat and parrot) and folks stopped the chatter to yell, “Happy Birthday”.

Byron was the enthusiastic tour leader who was educating and entertaining us about how each area of the facility functions. At several locations, Sissy was encouraged by Byron to test her skills in the multiple roles of Zappos’ team members. Her favorite job was that of “picker”. She loved the idea of being paid to walk up to 14 miles per day. If you thought that the products that you order get to you by an automated method; think again. Real people pull, pack and ship those babies! Being a nerd, I was fascinated by the “Kivas”, the robots of Zappos. There are 70 of these little orange critters scurrying from station to station in a room the size of a university football stadium and each one has its own name, courtesy of members with senior status.

Following our personalized tour, we had time to visit the outlet store where Sissy was especially taken with a pair of Marc Jacobs denim heels with zippers and bling. I couldn’t get over a pair of “clear” mules (think ‘glass slippers’) with 5 inch heels. Meanwhile, dear Julie was snapping away and laughing as we tried on the most outrageous, the most expensive, the most beautiful and even a few conservative pairs. If I had more grace while hobbling across the floor, I would have come home with RED stilettos!

Customer service really does give Zappos the edge; every member we met had energy, enthusiasm and devotion, not only for Zappos, but for their colleagues. We would love to meet Tony! Then we could thank him for encouraging his team members to exceed the customer’s expectations in any and every way possible. The folks in Shepherdsville earned our respect and gratitude. Stefanie, thank you, thank you, thank you for creating an experience that certainly qualifies as “the adventure of our year” and a birthday extravaganza that no one can top! Overall, it was a fantasy come true where our every thought was anticipated and fulfilled. Customer service exceeded excellence.

And yes, we called and e-mailed everyone we knew about our visit as soon as we got home that evening.

Totally devoted to Zappos…Valerie & Alicia (the birthday girl)
P.S. You must have a reservation to tour the facility.



Written by: Valerie O. and Alicia L.

KY recently raffled off a very nice hand-made entertainment center. Our very own Terry Stone crafted this fine piece of furniture out of solid ash with black walnut accents. The chances were $2 each or 6 for $10. All the proceeds went to our Zinney Jar Fund for charity. We raised $250!!! These funds are distributed to a local charity voted on by our team members here at the Fulfillment Center. In a strange, yet almost predictable, twist of fate Mike B was the lucky one that had his name drawn from the box. Thanks to all of those that bought chances and a big shout out to Terry for making and donating this wonderful item!



If you have a talent such as Terry’s and would like to donate an item to raffle for charity, please contact Stefanie Walls at swalls@zappos.com.

Blog Written by Stefanie W.

Z Big Ball at the Zappos KY Fulfillment Center is uber-ecstatic, and a little lonely. Lately, Zappos Team Members have been neglecting him to focus on another cool project: Recycling Aluminum Cans! ;\

Do you ever wonder to yourself at night: How many pounds of aluminum cans do Zappos Team Members at the Kentucky Fulfillment Center go through every two weeks? Well, Z Big Ball does ]:) . Any guess? Well, Z answer is: 344 pounds (at a minimum). How much is that worth? $309.60.

Holy Cow! Who knew! Here in Kentucky, they recently decided to start doing something with all of the free soft drinks they consume. They are going to recycle them and give the proceeds back to the community. Though, old habits are hard to kick. The 344 lbs. we collected over the first two weeks of the program doesn't even come close to what can potentially be collected. Z Big Ball has noticed Many Late-Adopters just tossing their cans in the garbage. But hey, Z Big Ball is working on changing that. More recycling containers and ball full of hype are on the way.

Next week, the KY team is hoping to cement a partnership with a local organization. Zappos Team Members will collect the cans, and our partner organization will cash them in to invest in programs for local youth. We are super excited. :^0

Props go to Jerry down in the KY Photo Department. His tenacity was the spark that got the ball rolling (no pun intended). Thanks for being Passionate and Determined.

Recycle on, Zappos; Recycle on.

Salutations, rapturous readers! I hope this merry missive from yours truly finds you reasonably chirpy! There was no wayI could let the week come to an end without one last update, as there was a boat-load of stuff that happened in Zappos.com's HR and Training teams since last we spoke!

So much culture, so little time…

Much of that boat-load had something to do with Jamie N., Zappos' resident Cruise Ship Coordinator! Also called “JamStar!” by those who know her best, she creates and coordinates myriad and momentous employee-related events, activities, and programs…kind of like Julie from the Love Boat, but without that 80's perm and with a bit more of an edge.

Our 4th Annual Zappos Employee Picnic was the largest to date, and ridiculously successful…


The calm before the crazy.

Kris Z. and Angela M. realizing they’re clearly outclassed. (Not that there’s anything classy about Bryan T.’s utter abandonment of all civility…)

L to R: Steve P., Mark G., Steve H., Fred M., Meghan B., and Eileen L. Winners of the Team Challenge!

...and JamStar just couldn’t resist making some mischief along the way:

“Ever since HR’s very own Dave H. won the typing contest, there have been vicious rumors aboutHR rigging results. Some of us decided to fight back. We held a raffle at the picnic, drew the winners yesterday, and sent the following email:

---

Congratulations to the following folks lucky enough to win a prize in the Picnic Raffle:

• 1 Play Station 3 (Valued at $400) = Dave W. from HR
• 1 Stainless Barbeque Grill Station (Valued at $200) = Drew K. from HR
• 2 Flip Video Camera (Valued at $155 each) = Rebecca R. and Hollie D. from HR
• 1 Espresso Coffee Maker (Valued at $100) = Christa F. from HR
• 2 Polaroid Digital Camera (Valued at $90 each) = Jacob P. and Rosalind S. from HR
• 1 Margarita Madness Machine (Valued at $80) = Eric V. from HR
• 1 Shell Gift Card (Valued at $50) = Heaven T. from HR

Wow, it looks like HR really swept the grand prizes. Luck of the draw I guess.

---

“Phones started to ring, inboxes started to blow up. It was great! Just some of the comments: Cheaters!...Jamie, that's statistically a little suspicious…this is gonna really upset people that everyone in HR won and no one else, wow…rofl!...You should send a follow-up picture of HR loading everything into someone's trunk.

“We let the team off the hook and sent the list of the real winners out. This caused another flood of emails: THAT WAS GREAT!!!... You guys are too much!... Here we all were with out mouths agape, when we got your second email…You punks!... You should have heard the grumbling goin on over here!!... Nice trick. LOL”

PS: For those of you questioning whether Dave H. actually won the typing contest last week, he's happy to go mano a mano with anyone doubting his skills. You name the time and place.

Meanwhile, the trail-blazing Training team was having an out of this world Las Vegas Encounter! Super Trainer,
Adrienne “Abductee” C. probes into greater detail for us: “Remember the exchange student program in high school? Zappos does! Every 3 weeks or so, we fly 5-10 employees from the fulfillment center (our warehouse) in Shepherdsville, Kentucky out to Vegas, put them up at the local Station Casinos hotel, and give them rental cars to run wild around town!

“They spend a week with us in our corporate office learning how the ‘other side’ lives and works. They visit
different departments and get to do some hands on stuff. Before this group left to go home, they wanted to do a parade around the office. You know how much we love parades!http://blogs.zappos.com/!!

“Sharing their Kentucky-ness by bringing the Derby to us Vegans!"

“A Vegas trip isn’t complete without visiting the sign!”

Some parting notes: Jobs@zappos! For all my friends!

Have any ideas on how this crazy, kooky thing we call a blog could evolve? They don’t even need to be good ones! Have a burning question, or a need to wax philosophical? Need some sage advice? I’m here for you, citizens of the interweb!

Coming Soon:

• How HR’s Monthly Outing Literally Rocked!
• Random Rozzy Thoughts (yer gonna love this)
• The Benches Are Here!!!!! (or, “Why We Love Rozzy and Rebecca L.”)

Catch y’all on the flip side, and remember: “We gotta find that troll!”
~Ddroo!