While UK retailers aim for the heady heights of next-evening delivery - or even same day - Amazon has taken the next step in its strategy to achieve the mammoth task of offering two-day delivery across the US.
It has issued a call for 5,000 new full-time workers to work at 10 new centres and 17 in all in Arizona, three in California, Delaware, two in Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, two in South Carolina, two in Tennessee, three in Texas and, finally, Virginia.
The hiring spree will increase the number of fulfillment centre staff by about 25 per cent on its existing 20,000. It's also recruiting about 2,000 additional customer service staff.
The online giant, which employs 97,000 staff, is offering what is says is 30 per cent more than traditional retail, full-time employment, stock options, healthcare and paying for education - whether it will contribute to the member of staff’s work at Amazon or not.
The announcement coincided with a visit by President Obama to one of its distribution centres.
The call for workers comes amid political moves - tacitly supported by Amazon - towards an online sales tax that will require internet sellers to fork out in the same way as bricks and mortar retailers.
The tax in the US is the same as VAT in the UK but many online retailers escpe paying because, through a quirk, it requires a physical presence in the state otherwise shoppers have to pay. Oddly for the US, shoppers get away with not bothering.
But new legislation being proposed means retailers will have to pay - most likely including UK retailers selling into the US. It is very different to the online tax proposed in the UK which would be on top of VAT and well beyond beyond the US demands.
But Amazon is supporting the strategy almost by default. It has laid down a blueprint for warehouses across the US that will mean it can deliver stock to customers in two days - its Amazon Prime, $79, promise.
It means the tax demand - which is still way off being implimented - would suit Amazon’s broader strategy and allow it to out-compete other online retailers, even though it would probably rather not pay it if the choice were offered.
'We’re focused on sustained innovation across Amazon and want to help our employees succeed - whether Amazon or elsewhere - so we offer programs like Career Choice, where we’ll pay for up to 90 per cent of eligible employees’ tuition regardless of whether the skills they learn are relevant to a career at Amazon,' said Dave Clark, vice president of worldwide operations and customer service at Amazon.
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