Our Logistics Colleagues in Profile

Zalando Security Guard Charlie loves flying drones. His airborne cameras help anyone who needs a bird’s eye view.

Is that a fawn in my barley field? Where does my roof need repairing? And where did the dog run off to? When farmers, homeowners or animal lovers in Mönchengladbach need a little help from above, they ask our Zalando Security Guard Charlie. The 62-year-old is an avid drone pilot who owns around 20 flying cameras. If he could, he would always keep one of them in the air. “I get excited every time I send one up,” says Charlie. “You have to keep your eyes peeled and have everything under control. I like that.” He finds his hobby all the more worthwhile when he can help save wild animals from combine harvesters, find missing dogs or take a good picture of a construction site.

Charlie’s love of flying is no accident. A grandfather of six with a warm and friendly character, he had a long career as a soldier in the British air force and army, where he took on roles such as aircraft engineer, instructor and air rescue team member. Unlike his brother, who has built up a drone business in the UK, Charlie doesn’t ask for any money in return for helping people out. He joined Zalando in November 2021 and works as a security guard in our Mönchengladbach logistics center– another role in which he keeps an eye on everything. He looks around the buildings and the parking lot and makes sure we are safe.

Charlie hasn’t used his drones for Zalando yet. But who knows? He also has a license for a cargo drone that can carry up to 25 kilograms. Not only is Charlie capable of flying it, he can also enthusiastically explain how to operate it.

Marius is a real Problem Solver – both on and off the job. In Stow, the department in which the goods are stored in our large logistics halls, he helps clear up questions every day. In his free time, he helps people in need by bringing them joy, donating money and lending a hand.

It all started with a shoebox. When Marius opened it 26 years ago, he found some candy, a comb, a small airplane and a few other items – all of them gifts from donors in the West who wanted to make a child in Romania happy. “We didn’t have much back then,” the now 43-year-old recalls. “It was so nice to get something!” After giving the comb to his girlfriend, the two got to thinking whether they could do something like that: finding a practical way to give people things that would bring them joy.

The idea became a beacon in Marius’ life. “I help people who can’t ‘help back,’” he says. The list of his projects is long, having already helped build a church in Bucharest, made sure that an elderly couple could move out of a dilapidated hut and into a house, financed housing containers and given money to war orphans. He also supports people who are building schools in Africa or helping drug addicts, or who are in need themselves. The Problem Solver from Stow, the department in which the goods are stored in our large logistics halls, also regularly loads his car with food, drives to Romania and hands it out there. Together with colleagues from Zalando, he also put together a campaign to organize shoeboxes for Christmas and fill them with gifts for children.

“Being able to help people makes me proud,” Marius says, smiling. “That lets me show what I have in my heart.” In addition to his willingness to help, his heart also has room for Juliana – the girlfriend who got the comb back then. The couple has been happily married for 16 years. And the plane? Marius still has that too.

Bayar studied English literature in Erbil, Iraq. He fled to Germany five years ago and now works as a problem solver at Pick, where his job is to collect customer orders from the goods shelves.

“Being a refugee was the hardest thing that has happened to me in my life,” says Bayar. “Whenever I think about it, it makes me sad.” For a moment, everything seems to be as present to him as it was when he arrived in Germany five years ago. The feeling of being uprooted, of knowing no one, of being rejected is written on Bayar’s face. It must have been a very difficult time.

Since then, the 31-year-old has achieved a lot. He worked his way through two years of German courses and made friends. In November 2020, he joined us in Shipping in our Erfurt logistics center. Shipping is the department where packages are sorted into trucks. “I had never worked in logistics before,” says Bayar. His original goal in life was to become an English teacher. He studied English literature in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, where he was born and raised. But then he fled to Germany. Today, he lives in Erfurt – and is very fond of his new job.

Bayar has already taken steps to further his growth at Zalando. After starting out in Shipping, he switched to Sort/Pack. For about eight months now, he has been a Problem Solver in Pick. There, he takes care of disputes that arise when collecting items for customer orders in our warehouses. “I like helping people, having contact with them and walking a lot,” says Bayar. From time to time, he also translates. That’s because Bayar also speaks Kurdish and Arabic in addition to German and English. He sees his future in Germany and as a Team Lead at Zalando. “Here, I can be who I am,” he says. “Germany gives me life, freedom, self-confidence and acceptance.” The key to it all, according to Bayar, is the German language. “But don’t forget your English either!”