From The Wall Street Journal:
Amazon.com Inc. plans to hire 100,000 additional employees in the U.S. and Canada, continuing a rapid expansion that began as the coronavirus pandemic forced many people to stay home and shop online for work and other necessities.
Amazon’s seemingly relentless hiring this year has come even as the wider economic picture has darkened, with companies across a range of industries slashing workers and filing for bankruptcy. Robust online spending during the crisis has fueled Amazon’s growth and created a need for more workers.
Not including temporary employees the company describes as seasonal, its total world-wide workforce will be roughly one million after accounting for the 100,000 new warehouse positions and 33,000 positions Amazon is hiring for in its corporate divisions. Once those positions are filled, it will have more than 700,000 employees in the U.S.
. . . .
New jobs will be added at dozens of Amazon locations paying at least $15 an hour and including benefits and signing bonuses of as much as $1,000 in some cities. Hiring for the jobs has already begun. The positions are all nonseasonal, Amazon said.
The company also said it would open 100 operational buildings this month alone, including fulfillment centers, delivery stations, sorting centers and other sites. That will add to more than 75 others already opened this year in Canada and the U.S., it said. Amazon has more than 600 facilities in the U.S., according to logistics consultant MWPVL International.
. . . .
Amazon, which accounts for more than a third of online U.S. sales, has recorded record profits during the pandemic. The company posted a record $88.9 billion in sales during its second quarter, and profit doubled year-over-year to $5.2 billion.
Link to the rest at The Wall Street Journal (PG apologizes for the paywall, but hasn’t figured out a way around it.)
Start of remote learning. Girl wants a desk. Boy needs a chair.
We have a giant IKEA not terribly far away . When we need something functional and fungible we head there sort of by default, so I do, with Girl, who has somewhat misplaced faith in her Father.
Lines through the parking garage, hundreds of people. An hour just to get in the door. Then fight through the rat maze (you’ve been in an IKEA, right?) take pictures of some floor item tags and stumble into the warehouse section.
No desks. No chairs. Sadness
Look on Amazon. That desk is nice! Here are chairs for 1/2 the IKEA price, and nicer too, might as well buy two that match. Ordering happens. Items appear on front stoop faster than anticipated with way less bother (see outing, above.) Happiness.
Lesson learned. (by me.)
Wife sees photos of lines and crowds, but would not believe me if I told her it was raining outside unless she checked herself. IKEA website tells her that they have bookcases in stock. Wife drives over there (it’s not *that* close,) waits in the terrible line and considers herself smart for heading straight to the warehouse with her item numbers written down.
No bookcases. (cough.) (that’s me, coughing, in case you couldn’t tell.)
Wife heads to Amazon, something she is pretty good at already, given that she is the primary Prime account holder, and we do our fair share of cardboard recycling. Finds some bookcases.
Uncertain about lessons, but I have long ago learned to keep my mouth shut.
and people wonder why Amazon is winning…
Amazon is quietly phasing out of Seattle.
Last month they reportedly sent out an email to Seattle staff asking for prefered suburb locations and volunteers to move out to the city proper.
A couple weeks later, this came out:
https://www.redmond-reporter.com/business/amazon-adds-more-office-space-to-bellevue-now-as-many-new-jobs-as-hq2/
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“Amazon has purchased additional 2 million sq. ft. in office space in downtown Bellevue and given the city a $1 million grant to support families and COVID-19 relief, it announced Friday, Sept. 4.
The additional 10,000 jobs, on top of the 15,000 previously planned for the city, means it now rivals the employment plans of Amazon’s HQ2 in Arlington, Virginia. Amazon will be leasing Vulcan Properties’ 42-story 555 Tower and 16-to-17-story West Main building (located at the former Bellevue Plaza Shopping Center) to house the additional positions. The development is also expected to include public parks, over 50,000 sq. ft. of retail space, and walking distance from the future Sound Transit link downtown Bellevue station. ”
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Also:
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Amazon also continues construction of its 27-story o}ce tower, which will
add greenspace and retail amenities as well.
Bellevue Chamber of Commerce CEO Joe Fain said in 2019 that the general
reception of Amazon’s major move to Bellevue was positive, as it feeds more
dollars to local construction and service industries, with a city hall that
supports the company.
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And:
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“Amazon announced in 2019 it would move worldwide operations team from
Seattle to Bellevue, where Jeff Bezos got his start out of a garage. ”
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Amazon has apparently gotten tired of lobbying against headcount taxes and anti business initiatives.
Cheaper to move someplace they’re welcome.
It looks like Seattle is going the way of the older cities in the rust belt.