I'm a primary sorter, one of the poor suckers who wears those shakles and applies the ink stains.
At first, we did have blisters between our fingers. The way the scanner piece rubs against your fingers can create some doozies. We were glad the first aid box was well stocked with band aids. We're now more able to adjust the things for somewhat greater comfort. Of course, we don't get to use the same one every day so it takes time to adjust the velcro for a good fit. I just smile at the pkgs flowing past me as I adjust. A piece of tape with our names on it would remedy this waste of time.
We actually do try to get the marks on a white part of the label but some of them are full of info which we don't like to mark over. Grainger boxes stink and we have to flip the things around to get on a white spot. Plastic covered rolls are nasty and if they have a drop of water on them, look out! The next several pkgs will be smears.
If we have time, we rip the platic and try to get the ink on the white label. If we have pkgs up the butt we just swipe the plastic and hope the loader can find it.
Getting ink is like pulling teeth. We got smart to their tactic of taking a used one, stashing it and then giving it to someone else. I make sure they show me the darned tape that protects the cartridge heads but suspect they have figured out a way to replace it so we think we're getting a new one.
The actual spot where the ink comes out gets clogged with cardboard dust and anything else floating around. Some people ignore it, some call a sup to fix it, some use a piece of paper to try and get it out. The ink area is, maybe, 1/8" wide and 1/2" long. I wear black t-shirts and fold the bottom over to clean it out. I also wipe of the "seeing eye" frequently during the day so reads better, or so I hope.
They break. Sometimes they just won't scan. Sometimes all the lights go crazy and blink with no scanning possible. The remedy? Hit the clear button and hope for the best, open and close the ink door and hope for the best. If these fail, tap the thing against a piece of metal to straighten it out. I try to remain patient but once I tapped a bit too hard and the whole thing came apart. It was taped together for quite some time. They have to be sent out for repair so we're always short of good, working ones.
What do they do with the used cartridges? The pt sups used to toss them on one of the belts but that resulted in ink stains everywhere so they now throw them on the floor. I'm not "green" freak but those things should be recycled. However, it is pretty to see the smears where the bulk carts have run over and crushed them. Proof that there IS ink left in them, it's just that the device is screwed up and doesn't seem to let the ink flow freely.
They say there is a date on the bottom line but darned if I've ever been able to read it.
We scan a barcode when signing in which plasters our name on every label. If we are mis-sorting or doing sloppy scans the gestapo comes up to find the culprit.
Our sups have been under lots of pressure to make this system work and they hate it. Seems it might be a good idea if the equipment worked better. The unloaders are hassled to pound the pkgs out and we are stuck playing with these toys so everything backs up. Fine, until they start to fall off the belt and I was getting bruises on my legs from them. Now, pkgs fall, building goes down. Egress. Never fear the red button.
Yes, they stink. But it's the company's system and we work it the best we can. The white labels were better but they were paying four or five pal gals to stand their and do nothing but paste labels. Why not let the sorters do it? It is what it is and as long as we're allowed to remain safe it just doesn't matter. Pays the same.