Amazon suspends delivery of 'non-essential' goods in coronavirus response

[Mrs. Overall]

Source: Politico

Amazon said it would immediately prioritize shipments of household staples and medical products while temporarily halting sales of other goods until April 5 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The change will apply to orders in the U.S. and European Union that are placed starting today, the company said in a statement posted on its website.

The company said it would prioritize products in six broad categories: baby products; health and household goods; beauty and personal care; groceries; industrial and scientific products; and pet supplies. Any sales placed before today can still be fulfilled, the company said.

“We understand this is a change to your business, and we did not take this decision lightly. We are working around the clock to increase capacity,” the company said, noting that it announced Monday it would hire an additional 100,000 workers in its U.S. warehouses to help handle increased demand. The suspension affects mainly third-party sellers on the platform, who account for over half of sales on Amazon.

Read more: https://www.politico.eu/article/amazon-suspends-delivery-of-non-essential-goods-in-coronavirus-response/

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. They are not suspending deliveries to customers.

Their web site says this:

"We believe our role serving customers and the community during this time is a critical one, and we want to make sure our customers can get the items they need, when they need them. As COVID-19 has spread, we've recently seen an increase in people shopping online which has had an impact on how we serve our customers. So in the short term, we are making the decision to temporarily prioritize household staples, medical supplies and other high demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so we can more quickly receive, restock and ship these products to customers. We are working around the clock with our selling partners to ensure availability of these essential products, and continue to bring on additional capacity to deliver customer orders."

You can still order stuff from them; it just might take a little longer than usual to get it.

[thesquanderer]

2. Right. But if Amazon stops receiving certain items from its suppliers, then those products...

...will become unavailable to customers once the current inventory runs out, until Amazon again replenishes those items from their suppliers.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. That could happen, but it hasn't happened yet.

The article is unclear and somewhat misleading. They have slowed down, though. I just ordered some stuff yesterday that I'd normally get in two days (tomorrow) but I got an email from them saying it would arrive on Sunday.

[NotHardly]

3. their warehouse people are falling ill here and in Europe... the 100,000 is to replace

sickened workers... not that they ever treated them as people anyway. The "hiring" will pack people into warehouses with hundreds of other people who may or may not have the virus. They are not being good or generous, they are just packing more corpses in the box."

[getagrip_already]

6. Think of it as more of a christmas staff-up... they usually hire a lot of seasonal workers then

to handle increased demand. It's the same now. UPS is also staffing up temp workers.

Just a lot more packages in the system.

But they also will have some temporary attrition to compensate for as well.

[truthisfreedom]

4. Crazy ass shit all around.

[StTimofEdenRoc]

7. Seams to me they could accomplish the same thing by delivering my shower curtain and rod and curtain

rings in one trip instead of three.
Increased capacity and fewer boxes.

But then I am a grumpy old man what would I know.

[AtheistCrusader]

11. There are delivery options that allow for that. In fact, Amazon incentivizes it with

a buck here or there for their digital content, when you choose a slower shipping option that combines multiple packages into one.

[StTimofEdenRoc]

17. If they added a few days, but they want to add a week or more

[matt819]

8. Dammit

I want my box of #2 pencils and I want them tomorrow! This is America, dammit.

In case you were wondering.

[TygrBright]

9. But... but... what about my lime-green crocs?!? I NEEEEED them, NOW!! (LOL) n/t

[sunnybrook]

10. I am an Amazon seller

It's what I do for a living. That was a message for third party sellers. They are still selling all categories to customers but they are swamped now and not allowing sellers to send non essential items to the warehouses until April 5. For us that do this for a living that was quite a blow, but perfectly understandable as well

[Igel]

13. That's useful information. Thanks. n/t

[flibbitygiblets]

12. Amazon's site repeatedly crashing for me today; that's never happened before

Now the panic buying is going to hit fever pitch.

And to those making fun of Amazon shoppers, many of us, including my elderly mother, are immunocompromised, so going to the grocery store is pretty much a death sentence right now. Amazon is how we're getting her some food staples for what is looking more and more like a long time being shut in.

[Igel]

14. Never underestimate the propensity of people to panic.

Things must be zero-risk and run smoothly at all times, otherwise it's just like an asteroid hitting the Earth during a zombie apocalypse as the Sun goes nova. Oh, and to make it *really* serious, all of that while sitting on the john and realizing that there was no toilet paper in the house.

[MissB]

16. Seriously

Perfectly put

[ffr]

15. Fill the airline airplanes with packages to keep them flying.

Just an idea.

[dalton99a]

18. Kick

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

19. OH NOOOOOO How can I exist without my new Funko Pops?????? The horror n/t