Amazon Temporarily Halts Receiving Non-Essential Items to Warehouse for Order Fulfillment

Amazon told its sellers and other vendors in a memo yesterday (March 17) that they will no longer accept nonessential items to their warehouses for order fulfillment as online shopping demand grows due to the Coronavirus.

In the memo obtained by Business Insider states, "We are seeing increased online shopping, and as a result some products such as household staples and medical supplies are out of stock. With this in mind, we are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and deliver these products to customers. For products other than these, we have temporarily disabled shipment creation. We are taking a similar approach with retail vendors. This will be in effect today through April 5, 2020, and we will let you know once we resume regular operations. Shipments created before today will be received at fulfillment centers...We understand this is a change to your business, and we did not take this decision lightly...We appreciate your understanding as we prioritize the above products for our customers."

This news comes on the heels of Amazon announcing it is hiring "100,000 new full and part-time positions across the U.S. in our fulfillment centers and delivery network to meet the surge in demand from people relying on Amazon’s service during this stressful time, particularly those most vulnerable to being out in public." The online retail giant will also be increasing workers' pay through April by $2/hour in the United States "depending on the region."