Amazon Hiring 5,000 in Warehouses to Meet Customer Demand

[Purveyor]

By Danielle Kucera - Jul 29, 2013
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) is boosting staff in 17 U.S. warehouses, adding more than 5,000 full-time jobs to meet brisk demand for products sold by the world’s biggest Web retailer.

The new hires will join more than 20,000 employees working at Amazon’s more than three dozen U.S. fulfillment centers, the Seattle-based company said in a statement today. Amazon is also hiring 2,000 customer-service staff, including part-time and seasonal workers.

The retailer plans to open five more facilities this year, after adding 20 last year. Warehouse expenses have more than doubled during the past three years, as Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos opens centers full of products closer to consumers in order to reduce shipping costs and speed up delivery. Higher spending contributed to Amazon’s surprise net loss for the second quarter as the online seller continues to fuel revenue growth at the expense of profits.

“As we get closer and closer to customers with fulfillment, we have seen growth,” Amazon Chief Financial Officer Thomas Szkutak said on a conference call July 25.

That growth is also being driven by Amazon Prime members, who pay $79 a year in exchange for unlimited two-day shipping and access to streaming video, Szkutak said.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-29/amazon-hiring-5-000-in-warehouses-to-meet-customer-demand.html

[onehandle]

1. The Walmart of online sales, like their big box hero, sucks up the jobs of small businesses...

...and packs them into their own big boxes.

[justiceischeap]

2. They seem to be about the only American company keeping

jobs in the US and adding more.

[onehandle]

4. Uh... No. Just like Walmart, those jobs are stolen from small shops from coast to coast.

Producing a net loss in jobs.

[Dreamer Tatum]

3. So now the anti-ANYTHING not from Apple attitude extends to hiring, too?

Are we supposed to count on Apple and its unrepatriated BILLIONS to hire 5,000 people? Yeah, right.

[lamp_shade]

5. The proposed site is less than a mile from my house...

Although I'm retired, I couldn't be happier.