Posted on 05/08/2016 7:03:16 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
vAmazon giveth, and Amazon taketh.
The giant internet retailer said on April 27 that it will create 2,000 full-time jobs by opening two more fulfillment centers in New Jersey.
One will be a 600,000-square-foot facility in Florence, Burlington County, generating 500 new jobs.
The other will be an 800,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Carteret, Middlesex County, that will generate about 1,500 jobs.
Together, the two facilities will bring Amazon's total physical footprint in the Garden State to 2.5 million square feet of space, if you count three existing centers.
The irony is that Amazon made the announcement the day after a news report that retailers were prepping to lay off 37,000 workers this year, due largely to the shuttering of brick-and-mortar stores.
The 37,000 is the most in one year since the 2008 recession - and more than double the number of layoffs in 2015.
Online shopping is the cause, led by Amazon.com.
E-commerce sales nationally - which included catalog sales - were up 14.6 percent in 2015 from the previous year, while retail sales for physical stores rose by a fraction of that - just 1.4 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Moody's senior retail analyst Charles O'Shea said: "We expect more square footage reductions going forward as online sales are growing faster than brick-and-mortar for virtually all non-food retailers."
Some observers say the retail layoffs signify the industry's realignment.
Surely, some of those losing their jobs in "real stores" will be hired to do something else, such as filling carts with online orders at an Amazon fulfillment center versus restocking shelves.
Mike Roth, Amazon's vice president of North America operations, said the new Carteret facility "will offer wages 30 percent higher than traditional retail stores and include benefits, bonuses, and stock options."
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
I do too...but always cross shop eBay. I'm finding more often Amazon is trending upward in price.
Well I didn’t know much about the ownership of Best Buy but I know all too well the names of the “1 percenter” hypoctrites who own Amazon and Facebook and the all too public use of their money against me.
I buy certain items on ebay for the same reason. And most of the sellers ship really fast now.
I have been re-building my truck and a couple times now, made an effort to use somebody locally instead of buying online.
I talked to 3 or 4 driveshaft shops here locally to have a short driveshaft made up, nobody would do it for less than $325. I did a little research on the internet, bought 2 pieces off amazon that fit together to make a 8” long driveshaft for $34 shipped to my door. Granted, I think somebody made a mistake, because if I were to reorder the same thing now, it would be about $150, but still less than half price.
Then when it came to Paint, I tried some local shops and best I could do was going to be $100 for a quart of primer or $160 to buy a gallon... paint was $400 and up depending on brand, I got a half gallon of epoxy primer and a gallon of paint from eastwood.com for $160 shipped to my door.
Because of Amazon’s fee’s it was a little more to make the same paint order from Amazon, so unless you are buying something from Amazon, I would recommend going up the line to the website of whoever Amazon is selling it for...
I have a Jag that has wheel badges. Every once in awhile they will come off and I guess roll down the road somewhere. I used to have to go to the dealer to replace them at $75 each. I found them on ebay for $5 each free shipping. I bought 4.
I ordered a camera from Canon last Sunday. Free shipping
Expected it one day next week. Came Wed.
I never thought I’d buy groceries on Amazon, but I have now, and paid double what I would have at the store. Wal-Mart, in my experience, carries a thin inventory running out of items frequently. The effect of that is that I carry a two or three week’s supply to avoid getting caught short. After three weeks of them being out of canned Ranch Style Beans with Jalapenos and Publix not carrying the item at all, I was surprised to see the beans available at Amazon, although the price was double. I bought all Amazon had (four six-packs of cans). Wal-Mart still hasn’t restocked.
I’m a big user of Amazon. I’ve got several orders in process/shipment right now. I do it because I can almost always find what I want.
I used to have a policy of making one attempt (usually most of a day) trying to find x at brick and mortar stores before going online. I’ve pretty much given up on that because my success rate was so low and it just pissed me off.
Same type of situation for my cat food but Amazon was actually cheaper.
I found out there was a Dollar Tree close by and I bought 5 Pairs of Cheap Sunglasses. I have a habit of dropping them.
Couldn’t find the same deal on Amazon.
I’m taking ZZ Top’s advice.
The prospect of retail dying off and just a few online players with massive warehouses scattered across the country should be a little alarming to people. It’s very centralized and very dependent upon the supply chain. Yes it’s cheaper but for how long? If there’s little or no competition, there’s little reason to remain cheap. Warehouse work will be one of the first areas to be heavily impacted by robotics, so there goes another huge swath of employment.
Yet, Bezos is a darling of the left and Wal Mart is detested. The lack of logic in this damn country is downright disgusting.
I received a $50.00 Amazon GC as one of my Mother’s Day gifts.
I’m delighted since I’ve been shopping at Amazon for about 3 years.
A wonderful shopping experience.
.
The only bookplaces that’ll survive will be coffeehouses that happens to sell books.
Same here but I've been saying it since the late 1990s. I started buying books and compact discs from Amazon practically since they were founded around 1994-1995. Now I get pretty much everything from them, even ridiculously small purchases. For example I needed a new set of screws and washers to repair an appliance and while I was at it, I purchased a dog lease and a container of motor oil for my lawn mower. It's so much easier than going to a big-box PetSmart or Home Depot and hassle with the traffic, finding a parking space and waiting in line, etc.
The retail experience is such a hassle. Minimum wage employees who really don't know what they are doing most of the time. Finding the item you need out of stock. Having the cashier spend ten minutes on each transaction.
I went to Kohl's not too long ago because I spilled something on my tie and had to get another one for a client meeting later that day. What a horrible experience. I grabbed a tie and then had to wait in line for 10 minutes because only two of ten registers were open. When I got to the front, I had to endure the spiel about how I would save 10 per cent on my purchase if I applied for one of their credit cards and then was practically scolded for "not wanting to save money" by applying for one. I don't want a Kohl's credit card! I just want to grab my tie and go. But it wasn't that easy. The cashier was typing and typing and typing on the POS terminal and when all was said and done, I ended up getting about two feet of receipt tape handed to me. Then when I tried to leave, the security alarm went off and I had to wait for somebody to come over and validate that I just paid for what I had bought.
That's just one example of the retail experience today.
Many of the “local businesses”, including chains here don’t deserve to exist. Many of them sell garbage at criminal, usurious prices. Why? Because they can. My butt hurts every time I leave a Lowe’s. This is why I plan ahead and mail order when possible. Am I missing out on “customer service”? Give me a break.
When they sell quality items at reasonable prices again and or have better training for their employees, I’ll give them another try.
Exactly. I’ve been to Kohls about twice in 5 years. They only have clothing for the season they are pushing (which may or may not correspond to the weather outside), there is no help finding something, so I was looking through yard high stacks of folded jeans for specific sizes that were all mixed. It took forever and was very labor intensive. Then we went to pay, and, like you, were in line for 10-15 minutes. It was so unpleasant I’d have paid a couple dollars more to buy online. What kind of jeans, what size, bingo, ordered.
Malls have been dying because of the public transportation to them and all that it entails.
They will make excellent public housing facilities.
Some of the stores can stay and they’ll call it “mixed use” development....
I do purchase frequently on Amazon for their lowest prices and ease of ordering. But I don't want Amazon Prime, and now that Amazon has nudged the minimum free shipping price to a $49 minimum purchase amount, I find myself buying less on Amazon. eBay has also been very good to me over the years, although I don't find the bargains there I used to.
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