Amazon is now blocking all shipments of nonessential products to its warehouses in response to the drastic increase in orders it’s seeing as COVID-19 (coronavirus) spreads across the US.
What We Know:
- On Tuesday, the company told all sellers and vendors that it would accept only shipments of “household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products” to its warehouse until April 5 to deal with the high demand of those products amid the coronavirus crisis.
- What this ultimately means is that sellers who use Amazon’s storage and delivery network for a fixed fee, through their Fulfillment by Amazon program, will no longer be able to ship nonessential products to Amazon. The same restrictions apply to vendors who wholesale their products to Amazon, who then resells them at a markup.
- The email Amazon sent to sellers stated it now wants to prioritize shipments in the following six categories: baby product; health and household (including personal-care appliances); beauty and personal care; grocery; industrial and scientific; pet supplies.
- As a result of panic buying, the huge influx orders of certain products on Amazon, like face masks and toilet paper and more have put huge strains on Amazon’s supply chain. The effects include shipment delays, technical glitches, and labor shortages.
Additionally, Amazon also announced on Monday that it was hiring an additional 100,000 employees in its warehouse and delivery networks. It also said that it would raise their pay by $2 per hour through April, as the coronavirus causes an “unprecedented” increase in demand for this time of year.
