Amazon has claimed that the recent coronavirus outbreak and concerns has caused a huge surge in online shopping. As a result, the company is adding 100,000 full-time and part-time workers across the U.S. to keep up with the demand.
The jobs will be at the fulfillment centers and delivery network.
In their blog post to announce the positions, the company said that: “We are seeing a significant increase in demand, which means our labor needs are unprecedented for this time of year.”
There have been so many orders that on Saturday, Amazon said that customers could experience longer delivery times than usual. The number of orders surpassed 4,000 on Monday.
The company has also said that they are running out of some brand-name items and usual household staples categories, i.e. brand-name toilet paper and disinfectant wipes.
In addition the hiring of so many workers, Amazon is also investing more than $350 million to raise pay for hourly workers in warehouse and distribution roles through April. In the U.S., it will pay an additional $2 per hour above the base hourly rate of $15 or more, depending on the region. For European countries, it will be £2 more per hour in the United Kingdom and many other countries.
Amazon has said they are following health and safety standards, practicing social distancing at their warehouses, and are increasing their cleaning.
During the outbreak, the company has also had to deal with many sellers price-gouging their goods inappropriately on the website. They claim to have had to pull more than one million products from the store.
So while we all may be staying inside a little more than usual, there are still some bright spots and opportunities for those of us who are still needing to make an income. If your job was put on hold without pay for the foreseeable future, this could be a perfect way to earn some money while we get through this.
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