Amazon.com to hire thousands to fill orders

[MNeagle]

NEW YORK (AP) -- Amazon.com Inc. said Friday it is hiring more than 15,500 people to fill temporary holiday jobs at shipping centers around the country, more than it hired last year.

The online retail giant said in news releases that it will hire more than 5,000 people in Phoenix and Goodyear, Ariz., and 4,000 in Pennsylvania at locations including Allentown, Hazleton and Lewisberry.

In Indiana, it will hire more than 2,500 people in Whitestown and Plainfield, and it will hired more than 2,000 each in Hebron, Ky. and Fernley, Nev.

The Seattle company said it is hiring more people this year than last but not how many more.

Many retailers are increasing their hiring this season. Kohl's Corp., Macy's Inc., Toys R Us, Pier 1 Imports Inc., American Eagle Outfitters Inc. and others plan to hire more temporary holiday workers.

Retailers will add between 550,000 and 650,000 jobs this holiday season, according to an updated forecast from the national outsourcing firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. That's significantly more than the 501,400 added last year. But it's still well below the 720,800 added in 2007 as the recession began.

About 10 percent of U.S. holiday sales are made online, but the sector is growing fast. Research firm comScore Inc. expects it to grow 7 to 9 percent compared with a year ago, when online holiday sales were 4 percent higher than the previous year.

Earlier this month Amazon.com also announced thousands of temporary holiday jobs in Campbellsville and Lexington, Ky. and Las Vegas.

The company has 31,200 permanent employees worldwide.

Shares fell $4.55 or 2.7 percent to $165.82 on Friday.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Amazoncom-to-hire-thousands-apf-4073454135.html?x=0

[midnight rambler]

Now there's a sector of the economy which is outsource-proof. Always nice to find those rays of sunshine.

[Carbon]

Now there's a sector of the economy which is outsource-proof. Always nice to find those rays of sunshine.


A comfort to all recent college grads, I'm sure.

[Mouse]

This made me think of something I saw on the sheeple news yesterday. If you recall, about a week ago everyone was jumping for joy because the employment numbers came out that we had added, I think about 150k jobs.

In a story last night on the news they were claiming that 150k jobs have been added for seasonals at the retailers.

150k=150k= 8 weeks and bye asshole.

I think we were sold some more salty stats.

[Shami-Amourae]

Yes people, in America it's now big news that an American company is hiring Americans.

[Olmstein]

I've heard several commercials on the radio for these jobs. IIRC, they pay about $11 per hr. Ad says nothing about the positions being temporary, though.

[Twisted Titan]

Now there's a sector of the economy which is outsource-proof. Always nice to find those rays of sunshine.


A comfort to all recent college grads, I'm sure.



Exactly.

Warehouse work is paying 8-13 dollars a hour.

You cant even get a decent high with that type of paycheck.

yet they some how toss that out like the economy is on the upstroke.


T

[mrnhtbr2232]

Yes people, in America it's now big news that an American company is hiring Americans.


And the jobs are nothing to build a future on - that's what exited the door. Burger flipping and box packing are a sad commentary on the future of American employment. Especially since those of us that work hard professionally are carrying their water. Job numbers are like heroin for people hungry for any sign of recovery that's not coming. In January when holiday retail numbers come out the Amazons of the world will realize they wildly over-calculated seasonal hiring, but the numbers will still be skewed to reflect "growth" - desperation continues its ugly march to the stockyards.

[ShortJohnSilver]

Yes people, in America it's now big news that an American company is hiring Americans.


And the jobs are nothing to build a future on - that's what exited the door. Burger flipping and box packing are a sad commentary on the future of American employment. Especially since those of us that work hard professionally are carrying their water. Job numbers are like heroin for people hungry for any sign of recovery that's not coming. In January when holiday retail numbers come out the Amazons of the world will realize they wildly over-calculated seasonal hiring, but the numbers will still be skewed to reflect "growth" - desperation continues its ugly march to the stockyards.


Well, actually it is worse than that, in that Amazon sales mean less labor overall for the same amount of consumption. Example: buy a bunch of canned Spam at store - you have the labor of stocking the shelf, checking out, etc. Buy that same Spam on Amazon and the total amount of sales is the same, but overall less labor is used because they are more efficient.

While that is good for the economy as a whole, it means that Amazon is sucking away retail hiring in all the other stores, being more efficient, and hiring less people in their warehouses than in the stores.

FWIW I plan to do almost all buying via online in the future, as that is where the deals are - those cans of Spam are under $2 each on Amazon including shipping, while in the local stores $2.59 on sale and $2.99 or more otherwise.

[Book]

http://warehousenews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dematic-voice-laser-trucks-lln-2009-02.jpg

Voice technology uses speech recognition and speech synthesis to allow workers to communicate with the Warehouse Management System (WMS). Warehouse operatives use a wireless, wearable computer with a headset and microphone to receive instructions by voice, and verbally confirm their actions back to the system. The wearable computer, or voice terminal, communicates with the Warehouse Management Software via a radio frequency (RF) local area network (LAN).

http://www.voicepicking.com/

Notice the headset on the robotic warehouse worker. Probably making $8 per hour on the night shift.

[FreeEnergy]

Now there's a sector of the economy which is outsource-proof. Always nice to find those rays of sunshine.


No way, hose.

Recently it's been oftentimes cheaper AND faster to package and ship directly from China to West Coast, than from East Coast USA...depending on what you ship

[willie pete]

Now there's a sector of the economy which is outsource-proof. Always nice to find those rays of sunshine.


No way, hose.

Recently it's been oftentimes cheaper AND faster to package and ship directly from China to West Coast, than from East Coast USA...depending on what you ship


Really? ..it's at least 6k miles from China to LA, and I'd imagine 99% of imports from ChinaLand comes in by barge...you're saying it's faster than shipping from the east coast to Ca? :o

[ShortJohnSilver]

Now there's a sector of the economy which is outsource-proof. Always nice to find those rays of sunshine.


No way, hose.

Recently it's been oftentimes cheaper AND faster to package and ship directly from China to West Coast, than from East Coast USA...depending on what you ship


Really? ..it's at least 6k miles from China to LA, and I'd imagine 99% of imports from ChinaLand comes in by barge...you're saying it's faster than shipping from the east coast to Ca? :o


Many Apple items are customized, packed, addressed, and shipped from China - it goes directly to Fedex's hub in China and there straight to the customer.

[Grand Master Melon]

My father in-law worked at an Amazon warehouse in Phoenix and it sounds like they're a pretty crappy group to work for.

He was the designated slave driver/guy who made sure you didn't steal anything. As a guy that didn't have to do any hard physical work he thought it sucked enough that he quit after about 2 months.

I've made one purchase from Amazon in my life and they screwed it up. They made it right by letting me keep the vinyl version of the single at no cost and sent me the CD version right away. I was able to sell the vinyl version for enough money that it offset the cost of everything and left me a little profit but I don't think I'd ever buy from them again.