A trip to the world-famous Space Needle, lunch in Pike Place Market and a visit to the Museum of Pop Culture are just three of the experiences enjoyed by Stuart Penny from Dunfermline after he had a once in a lifetime trip to the US.
Stuart, who works at Amazon’s fulfilment centre in Dunfermline, took part in the week-long trip with 17 Amazon colleagues from across the UK and Ireland as part of a programme called I Found the Right Place.
I Found the Right Place is open to Amazon employees in the UK and Ireland and asks the simple question – ‘what makes Amazon the right place for you?’. Employees are invited to talk about why they love working at Amazon and the best stories are selected by a judging panel, with the finalists taking delivery of a boarding pass for the trip of a lifetime.
More than 2,000 Amazon employees submitted their story as part of the campaign and Stuart was selected by the judges as one of 18 people who boarded the plane to Seattle.
Stuart and his colleagues had an action-packed week in Seattle, where they toured Amazon’s global headquarters, saw the latest Amazon technology during a fulfilment centre tour and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the city’s Pike Place Market, Space Needle, Museum of Pop Culture and more.
“After 35 years with my previous employer, I joined Amazon at 57 seeking a fresh start and it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Now as I turn 61, I’ve found purpose, pride, and community through training, safety roles, and a workplace that values everyone, no matter their background or age. I never want to retire – I’m having way too much fun!”
Stuart Penny is from Dunfermline and works at the Amazon fulfilment centre in the city. He works in the customer returns department, and as an instructor training new employees. After spending most of his childhood in Lusaka, Zambia, where his father worked building schools, he returned to the UK at the age of seven. He said:
“I came back to go to Strathallan, a boarding school in Perth. I owe a lot to the quality of teaching I received there. Now that I’m lucky enough to train people beginning their careers at Amazon, I take much inspiration from my schoolteachers that taught me how to be an eloquent and productive member of society.”
Before joining Amazon in 2020, Stuart worked for 35 years in sales at Andrew Thomson in Dunfermline. Due to the pandemic, the company closed, and Stuart was left without a job. He says:
“I just knew I needed to find a job. I was offered a six-month position by a different company, but I decided to take a risk and turn it down for a role at Amazon instead. People thought I wouldn’t like working here, but they couldn’t have been more wrong! I secured a permanent position after around eight months and decided then to become a trainer.”
Stuart’s career journey and love for his role at Amazon inspired the judges to give him a seat on the plane to Seattle. He explains:
“I can’t describe how much I love training. It’s like I have a fire inside me, and I want to take that and give it to each person I train. My role in sales gave me so many transferable skills that I can now use as a trainer, because I am essentially selling myself, selling the system and selling the process. It brings me a real buzz to see people I’ve trained able to get on with the job at hand – that means I’ve done my job properly.”
Stuart’s love for his job spurred him to submit his story to the I Found the Right Place judges. After a week in Seattle, he looks back on when he got the news he was going on the trip:
“I found out I was going to Seattle on Friday 13th, which I thought was funny. I couldn’t believe I had been chosen to go. When I finally got to tell everyone at work, they were so delighted for me. I was most excited to tell my 94-year-old mother. She was so proud of me and assured me my dad would be ever so proud, too.”
Stuart got to see and experience a lot when he was in Seattle, but what was his highlight of the trip?
“It’s been an honour and a privilege to meet my colleagues from around the UK who joined me on the trip, and everyone at Amazon in Seattle. Every last person on this trip has the spark and belief in ourselves, and a real belief in Amazon. We are all proof that there are so many opportunities with Amazon to learn and grow. I intend to stay with Amazon as a trainer for a very long time.”
Jamie Strain, General Manager at Amazon’s fulfilment centre in Dunfermline, added: “Stuart is a much-loved member of the team here at Amazon in Dunfermline and we were so pleased when we found out he was off to Seattle. We’re proud to have him represent our team on the trip and I hope he had a brilliant time. I Found the Right Place is one of the many programmes we run here at Amazon to show our appreciation for the colleagues that deliver smiles for our customers every day.”
Amazon employees receive competitive pay and comprehensive benefits. The minimum starting pay for frontline operations employees is between £13.50 and £14.50 p/h, depending on location. For those with 36 months service, this is £13.75 and £14.75p/h, depending on location. This equates to an annual starting salary of between £28,080 and £30,160, depending on location, for full-time frontline employees across the country.
Amazon has invested £550m in increased pay for operations employees across the UK since 2022, representing a 35% increase in the hourly rate in just two years. Additionally, from day one, all employees are offered a comprehensive benefits package including private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, subsidized meals and an employee discount. Together, these benefits are worth more than £700 annually, and employees can take advantage of Amazon’s company pension plan.
Amazon employees can also take part in Amazon’s Career Choice programme, which covers up to 100% of tuition and fees for courses in high-demand fields, regardless of whether the participant proceeds to pursue a career at Amazon.
Amazon has been named as a ‘Top Employer UK 2025’ by the Top Employer Institute, for the second year in a row, one of the world’s most prestigious certifications in the field of human resources management. This award recognises Amazon’s commitment to the development and well-being of its employees. In addition to the UK accolade, Amazon has also been certified as one of the Top Employers in Europe for a third consecutive year.
In 2025, Amazon ranked in second place on LinkedIn’s Top Companies list — an annual list that identifies the most sought-after large companies to work for and grow your career in the UK. Using data from LinkedIn’s 900 million members, LinkedIn’s Top Companies list is designed to help professionals identify the best companies to grow their careers.