Corporate employees of Amazon were asked on Monday to volunteer their time to the company’s warehouses to assist with grocery delivery as it heads into its annual discount spree known as Prime Day.
In a Slack message reviewed by the Guardian that went to thousands of white-collar workers in the New York City area from engineers to marketers, an Amazon area manager called for corporate “volunteers to help us out with Prime Day to deliver to customers on our biggest days yet”. It is not clear how many took up the offer.
The ask came the day before Prime Day kicks off. The manager said volunteers are “needed” to work Tuesday through Friday this week, in two-hour shifts between 10am and 6pm in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, where the company operates a warehouse as part of its grocery delivery service, Amazon Fresh. Corporate employees seconded to the warehouse would be tasked with picking items, preparing carts and bags of groceries for delivery, packing boxes on receiving carts, and working to “boost morale with distribution of snacks”, though they would be allowed to step into a conference room to take meetings and calls, according to the message. The manager noted such an effort would help “connect” warehouse and corporate teams.
Amazon routinely hires thousands of extra warehouse workers in advance of its annual Prime Day sale, which sees the massive online retailer discount thousands of goods, creating a surge in orders and demand for delivery. Amazon Fresh, available to Prime subscribers but separate from Amazon subsidiary Whole Foods, is also offering discounts this week during Prime Day, such as a free 90-day trial of the delivery services and $30 off of deliveries for current members, while maintaining its same-day or next-day delivery service. New York is one of Amazon’s busiest areas in the US.
An Amazon spokesperson, Griffin Buch, said this is not the first time “grocery corporate” employees have been “invited to volunteer” with fulfillment.
“This support is entirely optional, and it allows corporate employees to get closer to customers while enabling our store teams to focus on the work that’s most impactful,” Buch said.
Amazon Fresh has faced turbulence in recent years. Amid cost-cutting efforts in 2023 and a struggle to turn a profit on grocery delivery, CEO Andy Jassy closed several physical Amazon Fresh locations and laid off hundreds of employees in the segment. Amazon has laid off more than 27,000 employees overall since cost-cutting efforts began in 2022.
A week ago, Jassy spoke on CNBC of a future at Amazon where drones and even robots were used to fulfill and deliver goods to people.
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“Over time, as we expand the use of robotics in our fulfillment centers, we will have robots doing fulfillment and transportation for us,” he said.