Amazon has hired 2,800 employees per day since July

[Cal Jeffrey]

In a nutshell: Heading into Black Friday and Cyber Monday, many retailers have added staff to keep up with the buying frenzy. Some have increased staff more than others, but none have grown more than Amazon has. In less than one year, the company has hired more employees than any corporation in history, shattering Walmart's 20-year standing record.

While some businesses are struggling to stay afloat during lockdowns and others are suffering from Covid-related shortages, Amazon appears to be thriving. The online retailer has been on a hiring spree for the last ten months, adding more than 427,300 employees to its payroll, an average of 1,400 new hires per day.The vast majority of that staff was added after June.

Since July, the company added 350,000 employees at a rate of about 2,800 per day, bringing Amazon's total regular staff count to 1.2 million, a 50-percent increase from last year. This count also does not include the temporary and seasonal staff added for the holiday rush (over 100,000) and delivery drivers (500,000), which Amazon counts as independent contractors.

The coronavirus pandemic has at least partly fueled the hiring spree. The outbreak has led to nationwide job losses, and government mandates have pushed many consumers to shop online. Amazon says that a good portion of the hiring was "planned growth." Company founder and CEO Jeff Bezos sees the employment push as a blessing for many workers displaced since the start of the pandemic.

"Offering jobs with industry-leading pay and great health care, including to entry-level and frontline employees, is even more meaningful in a time like this," said Bezos.

The New York Times notes that this rapid growth far exceeds anything we have seen before. The last time a company experienced a hiring surge that even comes close was when Walmart hired 230,000 new staff in one year two decades ago. At its current growth rate, Amazon could surpass Walmart's 2.2 million employees in as little as two years, making it the world's largest employer.

Image credit: Amazon Employees by Frederic Legrand, Amazon Sunset by Mike Mareen

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/87767-amazon-has-hired-2800-employees-day-since-july.html

 

[Bulllee]

Feels like only yesterday since I bought books from Amazon and that is all they sold.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

I don't care how many people they add to their company - Amazon absolutely sucks hairy walnuts when it comes to properly packing and shipping products. They throw merchandise in the most inexpensive packing material that's not designed for the product and ship it out - regardless if you get free shipping or pay extra for shipping.

Amazon is a blemish that can be wiped off the earth and it wouldn't hurt my feelings.

 

[Bulllee]

''Amazon is a blemish that can be wiped off the earth and it wouldn't hurt my feelings.''
Too late there,your feelings have been hurt and they have been off the earth recently.

 

[OortCloud]

It's absolutely tragic that in such a terrible time, the one organisation benefitting from it would be utterly amoral Amazon and especially the truly ghastly Jeff Beezos.

 

[lipe123]

I don't care how many people they add to their company - Amazon absolutely sucks hairy walnuts when it comes to properly packing and shipping products. They throw merchandise in the most inexpensive packing material that's not designed for the product and ship it out - regardless if you get free shipping or pay extra for shipping.

Amazon is a blemish that can be wiped off the earth and it wouldn't hurt my feelings.

I've NEVER ONCE received a package that was damaged in shipping from amazon.
You need to calm down.

The article says Amazon is providing some income to thousands of people and propping up the economy in these hard times, but your takeaway is they need to stop existing and all the people that work there need to go on unemployment insurance?! Drugs are bad okay.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

It's absolutely tragic that in such a terrible time, the one organisation benefitting from it would be utterly amoral Amazon and especially the truly ghastly Jeff Beezos.

May would argue that companies are SUPPOSED to be amoral. We really dont want corporations deciding what is right or wrong.

 

[Avro Arrow]

The only question is... how long will these jobs last? Amazon is profiting handsomely from the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic which is forcing people to shop online. What happens when the pandemic ends? I can guarantee you that there will be major layoffs. These jobs are by no means permanent or of high-quality. Working at Amazon has been compared to slave labour and not in an ironic way either.

The reason I could never be a billionaire is that I'd have retired LONG before reaching that point. All the money in the world can't buy you more time to do whatever you want whenever you want without thinking about some company that you own.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

I've NEVER ONCE received a package that was damaged in shipping from amazon.
You need to calm down.

The article says Amazon is providing some income to thousands of people and propping up the economy in these hard times, but your takeaway is they need to stop existing and all the people that work there need to go on unemployment insurance?! Drugs are bad okay.

I have, many times - regardless of customer feedback I've left about the packing or how much I may have spent on shipping charges.

HDDs - constantly shipped in a flimsy plastic envelope. Not one HDD shipped this way has come out working.

Books - crammed into flimsy envelops too small for them, the binding comes bent or pages bent/torn.

TV wall mount - put in a box more than twice the size of the wall mount without any packing material. The wall mount box slid back and forth so much that the material inside ended up breaking through the box and the outer box. Pieces were lost.

DVDs - put in a box more than 2-3x the size needed without any kind of packing material. The DVDs just bounce around inside the box, the DVD discs themselves becoming scratched or broken.

Christmas gifts for the kids to come from Santa. Amazon shipping, instead of packing toys in a box, they slapped shipping labels all over the actual toy boxes. the labels couldn't be removed without wrecking the boxes.

These items that shipped, I tried multiple times to have them reshipped, but I was met with very similar shipping methods. After 2 or 3 times I would just outright cancel my order and ask for a refund.

My step-dad does handyman work: fixing appliances, lawn mowers and so on. The local Amazon distribution warehouse that's about 7-8 miles from us, someone found his website and called him to try and fix the fridge unit in the employee break room. Upon entering he had to go through the same entry as all employees and someone took the time to dig through his tool box, checking to make sure nothing was being brought in that shouldn't be (weapons/drugs). Upon finishing his work he had issues leaving because security was trying to blame him for stealing tools that he brought in. It took him 30 minutes to get out the door with his tools.

No, I don't need to calm down. They do a shitty job packing products and treating people poorly, period. I no longer support Amazon and others shouldn't as well.

 

[Rvnwlf]

I have, many times - regardless of customer feedback I've left about the packing or how much I may have spent on shipping charges.

HDDs - constantly shipped in a flimsy plastic envelope. Not one HDD shipped this way has come out working.

Books - crammed into flimsy envelops too small for them, the binding comes bent or pages bent/torn.

TV wall mount - put in a box more than twice the size of the wall mount without any packing material. The wall mount box slid back and forth so much that the material inside ended up breaking through the box and the outer box. Pieces were lost.

DVDs - put in a box more than 2-3x the size needed without any kind of packing material. The DVDs just bounce around inside the box, the DVD discs themselves becoming scratched or broken.

Christmas gifts for the kids to come from Santa. Amazon shipping, instead of packing toys in a box, they slapped shipping labels all over the actual toy boxes. the labels couldn't be removed without wrecking the boxes.

These items that shipped, I tried multiple times to have them reshipped, but I was met with very similar shipping methods. After 2 or 3 times I would just outright cancel my order and ask for a refund.

My step-dad does handyman work: fixing appliances, lawn mowers and so on. The local Amazon distribution warehouse that's about 7-8 miles from us, someone found his website and called him to try and fix the fridge unit in the employee break room. Upon entering he had to go through the same entry as all employees and someone took the time to dig through his tool box, checking to make sure nothing was being brought in that shouldn't be (weapons/drugs). Upon finishing his work he had issues leaving because security was trying to blame him for stealing tools that he brought in. It took him 30 minutes to get out the door with his tools.

No, I don't need to calm down. They do a shitty job packing products and treating people poorly, period. I no longer support Amazon and others shouldn't as well.

Last year we placed 240 orders several of which came in multiple packages/deliveries. Being in a rural area it's simply easier. Yes we did receive a few packages with crappy packaging but have not once had an issue getting a refund or replacement item if it was damaged. As far as your father goes, I also work in a repair occupation. I have several sites I go to that require all bags be checked before and after entry. It simply comes with the territory some times. If it truly bothered him that much then now he know what to expect or simply don't take the work.

Seeing as the article is talking about hiring 400k+ people perhaps there will be a noticeable change in how the packages are prepared. Not supporting them is your choice. Saying other's shouldn't support them or wishing the 1.2 million employees to be out of jobs "Amazon is a blemish that can be wiped off the earth" IS a reason to calm down.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Last year we placed 240 orders several of which came in multiple packages/deliveries. Being in a rural area it's simply easier. Yes we did receive a few packages with crappy packaging but have not once had an issue getting a refund or replacement item if it was damaged. As far as your father goes, I also work in a repair occupation. I have several sites I go to that require all bags be checked before and after entry. It simply comes with the territory some times. If it truly bothered him that much then now he know what to expect or simply don't take the work.

Seeing as the article is talking about hiring 400k+ people perhaps there will be a noticeable change in how the packages are prepared. Not supporting them is your choice. Saying other's shouldn't support them or wishing the 1.2 million employees to be out of jobs "Amazon is a blemish that can be wiped off the earth" IS a reason to calm down.

So it's okay that a handyman gets accused of stealing and has to spend an exorbitant amount of time being harassed, accused of stealing and held at the facility? I don't know what kind of places you've done work at before, but he's never experienced that from any business he's been in. If you feel that's okay, clearly you have a different mind set of what's okay.

Here are some of the last orders I've placed through Amazon, all met with same results:
1 HDD - three attempts to have it replaced, all met with the same packing failures and failed HDDs.
TV mount - two attempts, both meet with horrific packing that's caused damage to the mount or missing pieces.
DVDs - multiple attempts, met with same packing issues. Open the DVD case and discs are loose, scratched and/or broken.

Yes, Amazon sent replacement parts or did refunds, but...
I've wasted more time waiting for things to be reshipped, multiple times, from Amazon and then waiting to get refunded then it would have been to spend an extra 5-10% buying the same items from local businesses.

I think one of the most interesting screw ups I've seen from Amazon is when my step-dad ordered a replacement circuit board for an appliance he needed to fix....two days later he gets a small box in the mail. Inside the box is his order request for a small circuit board on the paper printout, but the actual item was a copy of a Nintendo Switch game for Minecraft. Amazon told him to keep the game and they reshipped his item. Instead of Amazon issuing a call tag to have a $30 game sent back, they just wrote it off. I guess the only real upside is he gave me the game to give the kids for Christmas.

Overall, it is a blemish. I wonder how much material and merchandise they waste from shitty packaging or how many people they've screwed over with pay wage issues. A lot of these folks won't be kept once things die down after the holidays - is it nice they find a job and don't leech off the unemployment? Sure is.

I know someone that's working at looking into pay/legal issues with Amazon - the lawfirm he works at works on lawsuits of this type against big companies/corporations - in the end it just depends on if the judge allows the case to continue or throws it out.

If Amazon fixed the issue of trying to make the quickest buck and actually took care of many of the shipping issues I've experienced (as well as many other people have) they could mostly be avoided. Years ago Amazon did amazing job with shipping things out in well packaged boxes...the past 2/3/4 years it's just be outright awful.

 

[Endymio]

Working at Amazon has been compared to slave labour

Not by anyone who's ever been a slave, or knows anything of actual slavery.

 

[Bamda]

I have, many times - regardless of customer feedback I've left about the packing or how much I may have spent on shipping charges.

HDDs - constantly shipped in a flimsy plastic envelope. Not one HDD shipped this way has come out working.

Books - crammed into flimsy envelops too small for them, the binding comes bent or pages bent/torn.

TV wall mount - put in a box more than twice the size of the wall mount without any packing material. The wall mount box slid back and forth so much that the material inside ended up breaking through the box and the outer box. Pieces were lost.

DVDs - put in a box more than 2-3x the size needed without any kind of packing material. The DVDs just bounce around inside the box, the DVD discs themselves becoming scratched or broken.

Christmas gifts for the kids to come from Santa. Amazon shipping, instead of packing toys in a box, they slapped shipping labels all over the actual toy boxes. the labels couldn't be removed without wrecking the boxes.

These items that shipped, I tried multiple times to have them reshipped, but I was met with very similar shipping methods. After 2 or 3 times I would just outright cancel my order and ask for a refund.

My step-dad does handyman work: fixing appliances, lawn mowers and so on. The local Amazon distribution warehouse that's about 7-8 miles from us, someone found his website and called him to try and fix the fridge unit in the employee break room. Upon entering he had to go through the same entry as all employees and someone took the time to dig through his tool box, checking to make sure nothing was being brought in that shouldn't be (weapons/drugs). Upon finishing his work he had issues leaving because security was trying to blame him for stealing tools that he brought in. It took him 30 minutes to get out the door with his tools.

No, I don't need to calm down. They do a shitty job packing products and treating people poorly, period. I no longer support Amazon and others shouldn't as well.

Wow, it sucks to be you! I have purchased well over 100 items from Amazon and have had no issues. Sometimes I get an item that I don't want, Amazon return policy allows for returns which they pay. But you do need to understand that not all items are shipped and handled by Amazon, as they allow for 3rd party sellers that is why as a Prime member I only purchase prime items, less hassle, and better CS.

 

[Rvnwlf]

Wow, it sucks to be you! I have purchased well over 100 items from Amazon and have had no issues. Sometimes I get an item that I don't want, Amazon return policy allows for returns which they pay. But you do need to understand that not all items are shipped and handled by Amazon, as they allow for 3rd party sellers that is why as a Prime member I only purchase prime items, less hassle, and better CS.

Yes, for some people: I'm talking to you " Neatfeatguy " they just seem to have incredibly bad Karma. Negative energy will only you bite you in the a@@. It pays to be a little more diligent in your research and realize not all vender are created equal.