Tag Archives: Amazon

Amazon Tests Wearable Social Distancing Alert Device

CNBC reports: Amazon is testing a wearable device that notifies fulfillment center workers when they’re violating social distancing rules. The device is a clear plastic sleeve with a clip that features an LED light and audio system, according to a memo seen by CNBC. When workers are too close to one another, the wearable emits a loud beeping noise and …

Read More »

Postal Service Reviews Package Delivery Contracts As Major Trump Donor Is About To Be Postmaster General

The Washington Post reports: Weeks before a Republican donor and top White House ally becomes postmaster general, the U.S. Postal Service has quietly launched a review of its package delivery contracts and lost its last senior official who was not appointed by President Trump. The moves, confirmed by six people with knowledge of the Postal Service’s inner workings but not …

Read More »

House Summons Jeff Bezos In Amazon Antitrust Probe

The Associated Press reports: House lawmakers investigating the market dominance of Big Tech are asking Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to testify to address possible misleading statements by the company on its competition practices. In a letter to Bezos on Friday, leaders of the House Judiciary Committee from both parties are holding out the threat of a subpoena if he doesn’t …

Read More »

Amazon Using Blacklisted Chinese Cams On Workers

Reuters reports: Amazon.com Inc has bought cameras to take temperatures of workers during the coronavirus pandemic from a firm the United States blacklisted over allegations it helped China detain and monitor the Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters. China’s Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co Ltd shipped 1,500 cameras to Amazon this month in a …

Read More »

New York AG Hits Amazon Over Warehouse Protections

NPR reports: Amazon may have violated federal safety standards for providing “inadequate” protections to warehouse workers in New York, the state attorney general’s office says. In a letter to Amazon obtained by NPR, the office of New York’s top lawyer Letitia James says the company may have also broken the state’s whistleblower laws for firing a warehouse worker who helped …

Read More »

Trump: No Bailout For USPS Unless Prices Are Raised For Package Delivery (Actual Intent Is To Hurt Amazon)

The Washington Post reports: President Trump on Friday said he would not be approving an emergency loan for the U.S. Postal Service if it did not immediately raise its prices for package delivery, confirming a recent Washington Post article that said he planned to exert more control over the agency. “The Post Office is a joke,” Trump told reporters. “The …

Read More »

USPS Crisis Gives Opening For Trump To Hurt Amazon

The Washington Post reports: The Treasury Department is considering taking unprecedented control over key operations of the U.S. Postal Service by imposing tough terms on an emergency coronavirus loan from Congress, which would fulfill President Trump’s longtime goal of changing how the service does business. Officials working under Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who must approve the $10 billion loan, have …

Read More »

Trump Claims Executive Privilege In Amazon Lawsuit

Politico reports: The Pentagon’s inspector general “could not definitively determine” whether the White House influenced the procurement process for a major cloud computing contract because senior Defense Department officials were barred from answering questions on the subject during interviews, according to a 313-page report released on Wednesday. Department personnel who evaluated proposals and awarded the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract …

Read More »

Amazon Waitlists New Grocery Delivery Customers

Gizmodo reports: As Amazon buckles under the increased demand presented by social distancing guidelines and shelter-at-home orders, the company now says that new customers to its Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market grocery delivery services are being waitlisted. An Amazon spokesperson told Gizmodo by email that the waitlist is a result of both “restricted capacity due to social distancing as …

Read More »

Workers At NYC Amazon Facility To Stage Walkout

CNN Business reports: Amazon employees at the company’s Staten Island, New York, facility plan to walk off the job Monday amid allegations the online retail giant has mishandled its response to the coronavirus pandemic. Employees are protesting Amazon’s decision to keep the Staten Island warehouse open despite news of a confirmed case of the virus there last week, said Christian …

Read More »

Amazon Delays Deliveries On Non-Essential Purchases

The New York Daily News reports: Amazon Prime is taking as long as a month to deliver some items that usually arrive in two days as the coronavirus pandemic slams the e-commerce titan. Items such as NutriBullet blenders, computer cables and best-selling books would not be delivered until at least April 21 if ordered on Monday, Amazon listings showed. Shoppers …

Read More »

Amazon Workers To Get Double Pay For Overtime

Reuters reports: Amazon.com Inc said on Sunday it is raising overtime pay for associates working in its U.S. warehouses as the world’s largest online retailer tries to meet the rapidly growing demand for online shopping from consumers stuck at home during the coronavirus outbreak. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, also said, “My own time and thinking …

Read More »

Amazon Shuts NYC Facility After Worker Tests Positive

The Atlantic reports: Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Queens, New York, received a text Wednesday evening that they long feared might come: “We’re writing to let you know that a positive case of the coronavirus (COVID-19) was found at our facility today.” This is the realization of a major threat to Amazon’s operations. Millions of people across the nation …

Read More »

Amazon Pauses Inbound “Non-Essential” Products

Reuters reports: Amazon.com Inc is suspending sellers from sending non-essential products to its U.S. and U.K. warehouses until April 5 in the latest move to free up inventory space for much-needed supplies that are in shortage as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. In a note sent to sellers on Tuesday, Amazon said it is seeing increasing online shopping demand …

Read More »

Amazon Seeks 100,000 New Hires As Orders Surge

The New York Post reports: Amazon late on Monday announced plans to hire 100,000 new workers in the U.S. to keep up with a surge of orders from people confined to their homes during the coronavirus outbreak. The Seattle-based company said this weekend that a steep increase of orders is putting its operations under pressure. It warned shoppers that it …

Read More »

Pentagon To Reconsider Denial Of Amazon Contract

Reuters reports: The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is seeking court permission to reconsider certain aspects of its decision to award a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft Corp, court filings showed on Thursday. A U.S. judge last month granted Amazon.com Inc’s request to temporarily halt the DoD and Microsoft from moving forward with the deal, which Amazon had …

Read More »

Judge: Amazon “Likely” To Win Pentagon Cloud Lawsuit

The Washington Post reports: A federal judge has concluded that a bid protest lawsuit brought by Amazon over President Trump’s intervention in an important Pentagon cloud computing contract “is likely to succeed on the merits” of one of its central arguments, according to a court document made public Friday. The document provides the first indication of how Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith …

Read More »

Amazon Battles Coronavirus-Related Price-Gouging

Reuters reports: Amazon.com Inc should stop third-party sellers from price gouging for items like Purell hand sanitizer as people seek to protect themselves from the coronavirus, U.S. Senator Edward Markey said in a letter to the online retailer on Wednesday. A box of small Purell bottles that usually sells for $10 was listed online for $400, he said. One third-party …

Read More »

Bezos Commits $10 Billion To Battle Climate Change

Posted today to Jeff Bezos’s Instagram account: Today, I’m thrilled to announce I am launching the Bezos Earth Fund.⁣⁣⁣ Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet. I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share. This global …

Read More »

Amazon Wins First Round In Trump/Pentagon Lawsuit

CNBC reports: A judge ordered Thursday a temporary block on the JEDI cloud contract in response to a suit filed by Amazon. Shares of Microsoft fell slightly on the news. A court notice announcing the injunction was filed on Thursday, but wasn’t public. It’s unclear why the documents were sealed. Amazon Web Services (AWS) alleged Trump launched “behind-the-scenes attacks” against …

Read More »