Amazon Has 'Unfinished Business' With One-Day Delivery Plans Thanks To Labor Shortage

Amazon Inc.’s one-day delivery plans have been halted due to labor shortages that have plagued multiple industries because of the pandemic and poor benefits. The online retail company also reported disappointing third-quarter results with a bleak outlook for the fourth quarter as well.

On Thursday, Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said, “We have unfinished business on the one-day-promise side. We were ramping that up nicely in 2019 and in the first quarter of 2020 before the pandemic . . . We’re still not back to levels that we saw pre-pandemic.”

A lot of online-based companies, including Amazon, saw a dramatic increase in wealth because of the high demand for online services. As the pre-pandemic normal finally arrives, the boom created by the pandemic is no longer sustaining that tremendous growth.

“Consumers have started to return to pre-pandemic spending patterns,” Olsavsky said.

Olsavsky also revealed that labor constraints have “not helped us close the gap” on their one-day shipping delays. However, he said that the company hopes for an improvement next year.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy added in a press release, “in the fourth quarter, we expect to incur several billion dollars of additional costs in our consumer business as we manage through labor supply shortages, increased wage costs, global supply chain issues, and increased freight and shipping costs . . . It’ll be expensive for us in the short term, but it’s the right prioritization for our customers and partners.”