Amazon warehouses must ensure a foolproof method to receive and store products. And this is where inbound stow comes in.
Stowing involves storing items in an approved storage location until customers are ready to buy them. But what is inbound stow at Amazon? Here’s a full guide.
What Is Inbound Stow at Amazon?
Inbound stow at Amazon is the process of setting up and arranging incoming items at Amazon Warehouses into the proper places. When items arrive, Amazon stow associates scan, stack, and enter them into the inventory. Robots may assist Stowers in the Amazon Robotics (AR) facilities.
The facility where a stow associate works will significantly influence how they perform their tasks. Keep reading to see what an Amazon stow does at Amazon, whether stowing at Amazon is inbound or outbound, how much Stowers earn at Amazon, and more.
What Does an Inbound Stow Do at Amazon?
The Amazon inbound stow job description is similar across the different Amazon facilities. As a stower at Amazon, your responsibility will be to store products in assorted-size bins, which will be pulled out for order fulfillment.
You must inspect all items for damages and scan them as you stow them to ensure physical and virtual locations match inventory accuracy. Your work as an inbound stower is important to prevent true shortages and false overages.
An inbound stow associate is a part of the fulfillment team and is responsible for performing the following daily tasks:
- Keeping shelves, display trays, and aisles neat and orderly.
- Choosing, sorting, scanning, and arranging items on shelves and in aisles.
- Using the handheld scanner to scan items and placing them in the correct bin.
- Ensuring items of similar and correct sizes are properly stored together.
- Preparing and packaging items for pickup and delivery to buyers.
- Following the Amazon safety procedures to avoid injuries of all kinds.
- Ensuring that inventory levels are properly maintained across all warehouses
As a stow associate at Amazon, manually performing your duties can be tedious and time-consuming. So, instead of manually stowing items at the warehouse, Amazon has made a service where you can let their robots do it for you.
Is Stowing at Amazon Inbound or Outbound?
The stowing process at Amazon can be inbound or outbound. Generally, the inbound and outbound stowing processes are similar activities with reversed purposes.
Inbound stowage involves receiving items at your warehouse and storing it properly until customers need them. So, inbound stowing at Amazon is when you move products into the warehouse, scan them, and keep them until they’re ready to be sold.
Outbound stowing also includes sorting, scanning, and arranging items into designated bins in preparation for shipping them elsewhere. You could ship these items to the fulfillment center, from where they’re sent to the distribution center when customers place an order.
So, inbound at Amazon involves receiving products from different vendors. Once Amazon gets and documents these products, the items become available to order on the website.
However, outbound at Amazon fulfills customer orders. It involves the picking, packing, and shipping of customer orders within a stated or specific deadline.
Inbound Stow Amazon Salary
Your pay for inbound stowing at Amazon depends on your work hours and how many packages you can receive and document.
The average pay for an inbound stow is $16.86 per hour, which could increase to more than $20 per hour if you’re one of the best at your job. This could be well over $30,000 annually if you work full-time (40 hours a week).
You could also earn more if you put in for voluntary extra time (VET), but you only get to work a maximum of 60 hours a week at Amazon. You also get to enjoy lots of other perks and bonuses at Amazon.
Inbound Stow Amazon Video
You may be curious about what happens during the inbound stow process. And you’re not alone. If you’re interested in becoming an inbound stower at Amazon, you should know how inbound stowing works at Amazon and what it’s all about.
You can learn how to stow items at Amazon, even on your first day at work. And while you’ll surely get orientation when you resume work as an inbound stower, it doesn’t hurt to be extra prepared!
You can also check out the daily life of an Amazon warehouse stower to get an idea of the routines, what’s required of you, and what a day in your life will be like as a stower at Amazon.
What Is a Good Stow Rate at Amazon?
The stow rate measures the number of units you stow at a given time. Stow rate is an important metric because it helps Amazon assess the efficiency levels and know how good a stower is at their job.
A high stow rate indicates that you can stow items as efficiently as possible.While what counts as a good stow rate will depend on the warehouse you work in, you are expected to stow more than two to three items every minute.
Generally, a good stow rate at Amazon is about 450 items an hour (scanning and putting away items). This may vary largely depending on the warehouse and the Amazon facility you work in (stowing is different at fulfillment centers and distribution centers).
How Do You Get a High Stow Rate at Amazon?
You may wonder how to get faster at stowing at Amazon and increase your stow rate? You can increase your stow rate by following the following quick steps.
- Immediately you start working, stow a group of small items to beat the daily target.
- Prioritize your tasks and try to complete them quickly to become faster!
- Bring smaller items closer to the scanner and bigger items farther away to quicken the process.
- Get comfortable footwear to improve your overall comfort while working.
- Do not overload a particular bin with many items, as that would increase the chances of the items falling.
Conclusion
Inbound stow at an Amazon warehouse involves sorting, scanning, and arranging items at designated storage points. A stow associate must inspect the items for damages, scan them to ensure the inventory match, and prevent true shortages and false overages. Inbound Stowers at Amazon earn $16.86 or more per hour.
