Amidst growing demand for deliveries, Amazon has announced that it will suspend the shipment of non-essential items to its warehouses until April 5 to prioritize more essential shipments.
According to Business Insider, the decision will affect sellers who send products to Amazon warehouses, and will not affect shipments made to consumers. The news agency also obtained a memo from Amazon of the decision:
We are closely monitoring the developments of COVID-19 and its impact on our customers, selling partners, and employees.
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.
According to Business Insider, the decision to suspend warehouse shipments will not apply to baby products, personal care products, household products, pet food or groceries.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, Amazon is currently on a 100,000 employee hiring-spree, looking to meet high levels of demand from people self-isolating at home, and those unable to find products they need in local stores.
“We are seeing a significant increase in demand, which means our labor needs are unprecedented for this time of year,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of operations, in a memo obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
The journal reports that Amazon has also given employees temporary $2 per-hour pay increases, in addition to unlimited unpaid time off. Workers for Amazon locations outside the United States will also see larger paychecks, reports the journal.
The hiring decision comes as businesses in areas across the country have been forced to close or adjust their operations to fit new emergency guidelines.
According to Kiro-7, Washington has shut entertainment venues, restaurants and bars across the state, forcing eateries to change business practices to accommodate orders for take-out only.
The country’s two largest cities — New York City, which has over 8 million people, and Los Angeles, which has over 4 million people — have put similar measures in place.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, the White House is currently preparing an $850 billion stimulus package, most of which would consist of payroll tax cuts and small business loans.
The White House is also considering sending Americans paychecks directly as a temporary relief measure, as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuch revealed on Tuesday.
“The president has instructed me we have to do this now,” said Mnuchin. “Americans need cash now — and I mean now, in the next two weeks.”
“I think we’re going to do something that gets money to them as quickly as possible. That may not be an accurate way of doing it,” said Mnuchin. “Some people obviously shouldn’t be getting a check for $1,000 but we’ll have an idea at the end of the day what we will be doing.”