Amazon News: E-Commerce Giant To Halt Delivery Service Competing With FedEx, UPS
E-commerce giant Amazon is temporarily suspending its shipping delivery service that competes directly with FedEx and UPS, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
“We understand this is a change to your business, and we did not take this decision lightly,” the company said in a note to shippers seen by the Journal. “We will work with you over the next several weeks so there is as little disruption to your business as possible.”
The service was only available in a few U.S. cities and will be suspended beginning in June. The company wants to instead focus on dealing with a surge in customers orders, as most Americans stay inside amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
Amazon is currently hiring at least 100,000 delivery and warehouse workers in order to keep up with demand. The company is also dealing with criticism that it is not protecting its employees enough from the virus, with workers holding a protest Monday at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York. The employees demanded that Amazon shut down and sanitize the location after a worker tested positive for coronavirus. In response, Amazon fired the employee who organized the protest for allegedly not following social distancing measures.
Amazon announced Wednesday that employees who contract the coronavirus and are sent home with fevers would be able to receive partial pay. Last week, the company began temperature checks for employees.
The coronavirus has drastically changed the nature of the U.S. economy, with non-essential businesses closed across the country to prevent the spread of the virus. As of Wednesday at 11:55 a.m. ET, there are nearly 400,000 cases of coronavirus in the U.S., with the death toll approaching 13,000.
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