◼ TECHNOLOGY Bloomberg Businessweek March 23, 2020Amazon Is No Longer
The Everything Store
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HIROKO MASUIKE/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUXWhiletheCovid-19pandemickeepseverything
besidesgrocerystoresandpharmaciesshuttered
ina growingnumberofcitiesaroundtheworld,
Amazon.comInc.hasoffereda relativesenseof
normalcytoshopperswhocouldstillgetmost
thingsdeliveredwithintwodays.That’schanging.
OnMarch17,Amazontolditssellersthatuntilat
leastApril5,high-demandproductssuchasmedi-
calsuppliesandhouseholdstapleswilltakeprior-
ity,andthatit’shaltinginboundshipmentsofall
nonessentialproductstokeepupwiththeneed
forthosebasics.
Toys and flatscreen TVs areon hold while
Amazon ramps up shipments of toilet paper, bleach,
and sanitizing wipes “so we can more quickly
receive, restock, and ship these products to cus-
tomers,” the company said in a blog post updated
on March 17. The new rules don’t apply to products
already in or on their way to Amazon warehouses,
the company said in an emailed statement.
These changes may offer some relief to Amazon’s
warehouse employees, who are struggling with a
next-levelversionofthecompany’snotoriouslybru-
talshiftwork.Atleastfiveofitswarehouseworkersin
SpainandItalyhavecontractedCovid-19, according
to union officials and people familiar with the mat-
ter, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear
of reprisals. The countries’ respective unions have
complained that Amazon is putting sales ahead of
safety by refusing to close the facilities for cleaning.
In response, on March 16 workers at its main Italian
logistics hub in Castel San Giovanni called for a strike.
“We are giving our support to the employees that
are currently in quarantine,” Amazon said in a state-
ment. “The security and safety of our employees is
our main concern and we are following the direc-
tives of the local and international health author-
ities, and we have applied a series of preventive
health measures in our centers across the world.”
On the other side of the Atlantic, the company
and its workers have felt the strain, too. On March 16,
Amazon said it planned to hire 100,000 people and● With workers getting sick, the company will stop restocking nonessential itemsraise pay in the U.S. and Canada by $2 an hour
through April to ensure it can make its deliveries. So
far, the company hasn’t confirmed any cases among
blue-collar workers in its home country, but it’s tough
to imagine that its hundreds of thousands of work-
ers are all virus-free. Amazon has to consider closing
facilities and slowing the pace of deliveries to pro-
tect workers and make sure customers can trust its
deliveries,saysAlexColvin,deanofCornell’slabor
relationsschool.“Ifa workerinanAmazonfacility
deliveringgroceriestopeoplegetssickwithCovid-19,
that could really shake public confidence,” he says.
Amazon has offered two weeks of sick pay to
workers diagnosed with the disease or placed in
quarantine and says warehouse employees can▼ In the U.S. alone,
Amazon has hundreds
of warehouses, sorting
centers, and other
facilities