Amazon.com Inc. reportedly is planning to hire 30,000 part-time U.S. jobs to keep up with growth in its business.
Of the jobs, 25,000 will be warehouse positions and the remaining 5,000 home-based positions answering customer calls, emails and chats "in what the online retail giant calls its virtual customer-service department," the Wall Street Journal reported.
Amazon has expanded its workforce and has been building many more warehouses to be closer to its customers. Such proximity cuts shipping charges and allows the company to deliver more of its own packages.
Tom Weiland, vice president for world-wide customer service, told the Journal that" a rapidly growing customer base is the reason for more than doubling the size" of the U.S. virtual customer-service program.
“Our work-from-home program, just like our customer-service program generally, continues to grow because the Amazon business continues to grow so fast,” he told the Journal. “We just need to keep up with the pace.”
To be sure, the Seattle online giant has been shaking up the American perception of shopping, both online and brick and mortar.
Steve Beaman, chairman the Society to Advance Financial Education, recently told Newsmax TV that mass store closures and layoffs by Sears, Macy’s and Kmart only prove that the retail industry continues to undergo a sea change because of online shopping.
And this seismic shift may soon extinguish a cultural landmark of the recent past – the American shopping mall.
JD Hayworth asked Beaman on "America Talks Live" if malls are a relic of a bygone era.
“My personal opinion is they are,” he said. He cited many many requiring adults to chaperone those under the ages of 21 or 18.
“So we're already going to see the demise of it being the hang out for kids and I think that will change the retailing habits of it. The overall security concerns of the bricks-and-mortar retailers is going to become a draining cost on them. So, they're going to think more and more let's go to the internet,” he said.
So if the online giant can extinguish shopping malls it also may reimagine grocery shopping as we now know it.
Newsmax Finance Insider Charles Sizemore told Newsmax TV that Amazon is about to "upend the grocery industry" as it plans to expand its grocery business with shops that let people quickly pick up milk, vegetables or other perishable foods.
"Amazon is trying to get your grocery dollars for a very good reason,” Sizemore told Newsmax Prime’s JD Hayworth.
“Groceries, while they are a low-margin business, it's still something that every American pays for, usually on a weekly basis. If you're already buying your groceries at Amazon, you might also buy something that's higher margin,” he said.
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