As usual for Zappos; expect the unexpected …. on August 12 and 13th we were invaded by Hippies who all seemed to be looking for Woodstock.

So we made Woodstock happen, from the Volkswagen beetle to Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin blaring on the Zafe Speakers. Team members really stepped up to show their hippie style from Bell bottoms to Tie Dye shirts. We even saw a pair of Hot pink Platform Boots in Pack/Ship.

KYCT set up to take photos of our Hippies in the FC. Each team that wanted their photo taken contributed $1 for the Zinny jar (which goes to charity) and some gave more than the $1…..just because!

Thank you to everyone who helped out to make this happen.


written by: Susan D.

It looks like our resident prankster here at the Zappos office, Bill J., has been at it again. Bill is know for his creative pranks that catch unsuspecting victims around the athletic area (his last prank was the catapult). With his newest prank, Project: Ping Pong Drop, Bill has really outdone himself.

Bill built an elaborate set up with a trap door above the athletic area that drops ping pong balls onto people shooting baskets in the area. I don't know what he is going to come up with next, but it's going to have to be really good to top this one!

With Zappos.com sponsoring this year's Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon, many of our employees are preparing to participate in the event. Last week we spoke to some of the people doing the half marathon, so this week we decided to go around and talk to some of the people planning to run the full marathon.

No matter if your a seasoned runner, or just someone wanting to challenge yourself, the Las Vegas full or half marathon is a great way to get out and work on those fitness goals. Here are some of our Zappos employees talking about their training so far.

As our blogger Melissa put it, "There must be something is the water here at Zappos, because we have a lot of expecting mothers walking around the office recently." Our Brand Marketing Manager, Michelle T, is the most recent expecting mother to be due in a few weeks.

Since Michelle has hit the point where the baby could come at any time, the marketing department decided it would be a good time to throw her a little party. The Zappos brand marketing, creative services and blogs team all got together at a local coffee shop to have coffee and cupcakes while celebrating with Michelle.

Congratulations Michelle!

As part of our Rivalry Week festivities, we had a Duct Tape Challenge here at the KY Fulfillment Center. The only rules were to pick red or blue and let your creativity run wild. Our team members did a great job! We're always up for creating a little fun.



And the winning team:

THE SOLUTIONS TEAM with their UK Avenger Superhero Costume.



Congrats to everyone for making some awesome duct tape outfits!

September 23rd is officially our Celebratory Facilities Day! We at Zappos are especially lucky because our facilities team constantly finds new ways of wowing us. From String Cheese Fridays to keeping the office and buildings in Tip-Top shape, to driving our guests around town, to shipping and receiving all of our Zappos orders – they are without a doubt the best at what they do. And so, we would like to take this time to thank our facilities team for doing an amazing job.

No matter how happy a person you are, how great your job is, or how much fun your co-workers are to be around, everyone has those little things that bother them at some point during their day. We usually refer to these minor annoyances as "pet peeves".

For those of you who cringe every time you walk by you co-workers messy desk, or steam comes out your ears every time you get cut off in traffic, don't worry, you're not alone. Here are the pet peeves of some of the employees around the Zappos office.

This last week, our Zappos team went to Southern California and competed in the 8000 meter challenge. It is an event put on by Jansport each year for employees of outdoor retailers. It is a grueling event that has you hike almost 40 miles, as you summit the three tallest peaks in Southern California (Mt. Baldy, San Gorgonio and San Jacinto)in a 24 hour period.

The event not only challenges your overall physical conditioning, but for many people, it also mentally challenges your ability to push through and finish the event. You start the event at 5a.m. when it is still dark, and for those who finish, will most likely finish their hike that night in the dark.

It is really not a race, so for most people it's mainly about competing against yourself to get through and complete the event. It also allows you to bond with your team, not only during the event, but also the training leading up to the big hike. Everyone enjoyed hiking together and constantly encouraging each other to better themselves.

It's been said, that for a lot people, this event is the hardest event they will do in their life. While this event is definitely not easy, for those who participate in the challenge, it's certainly worth all the hard work.

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!

Here at Zappos we are all about happiness! We wanted to get to know our fellow employees a little bit better and find out what makes them happy. So we took some time out of our day to walk around the Fulfillment Center here in KY and find out what makes our employees happy by having them write their answer on a board and pose for a lovely picture.

This one was one of our favorites:

(This is Vicki---one of our awesome Kiva robots! We love you too Vicki!)

There are so many wonderful words in the world that it's hard to choose one to be your favorite. But somehow we all have a word that we enjoy more than others – for whatever reason. What's your favorite word?

Melissa L. is not only a blogging queen, she also knows how to do more with less! Today armed with only a bicycle, a computer, a piece of scratch paper, 2 rubber bands, an ink pen, an internet connection and the ability to write and read, Melissa creates a GPS system for a bicycle!

In the age of Lightning fast internet and HD television, it's easy to forget the ultimate family and friend uniter – The board game! There are too many to name, but please feel free to try!

What's your favorite board game?

We are happy to announce that our Customer Loyalty lead Jean D. has implemented the Internet Vendor Mentor program. This new program allows our vendors the opportunity to listen in on phone calls from our customers regarding questions about their respective categories. For example, if one of our rideshop vendors wants to hear questions that our customers are asking about skate shoes, they can sit in with representatives of our rideshop business unit. We currently have 5 business units: Kids, Outdoor, Running, Comfort and Rideshop.

Great job, Jean!

We have a very diverse culture at Zappos, with many people from all parts of the world. We thought it would be fun to see what accents people would want to have if they had a choice.

We went around the office and asked, "If you could have one accent, what would it be?"