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Amid a surge in demand for online grocery shopping during the coronavirus pandemic, Amazon said it would put new grocery delivery customers on a waitlist and reduce hours at several Whole Foods stores around the country.
Amazon Vice President of Grocery Stephenie Landry wrote in a blog post that available time slots for online grocery delivery have been hard to come by, despite a 60 percent rise in order capacity because of the pandemic.
"[W]e still expect the combination of restricted capacity due to social distancing and customer demand will continue to make finding available delivery windows challenging for customers," Landry wrote. "To help, in the coming weeks, we will launch a new feature that will allow customers to secure time to shop. This feature will give delivery customers a virtual “place in line” and will allow us to distribute the delivery windows on a first come, first served basis. Simultaneously, we will continue to add capacity as swiftly as possible."
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AMAZON WORKER TESTS POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS AFTER JEFF BEZOS VISITS WAREHOSUE
Amazon has implemented a number of measures to deal with the surge in demand for grocery delivery, Landry added. The number of Whole Foods stores that can be used for grocery pickup nearly doubled, going to "more than 150" stores, up from "roughly 80," with a promise of more to come.
Hours at certain Whole Foods stores will be shortened to "focus exclusively on fulfilling online grocery orders during this time," Landry added. Amazon acquired Whole Foods in 2017 for $13.7 billion.
In addition, a new Amazon grocery store in Woodland Hills, Calif. is temporarily "focused exclusively on fulfilling grocery delivery orders."
FILE - This Oct. 23, 2018, file photo shows an Amazon logo atop the Amazon Treasure Truck The Park DTLA office complex in downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
The company also recently announced it would hire an additional 100,000 workers and raise their hourly pay to help with the recent surge in demand due to the pandemic.
On Monday, Amazon said it would hire an additional 75,000 workers on top of the aforementioned 100,000 employees.
Amazon has several ways to order groceries, including Amazon Prime Now, online delivery from Whole Foods and its Amazon Fresh service. According to Reuters, Amazon temporarily suspended delivery service from its Prime Pantry service last month.
Seattle-based Amazon has recently come under scrutiny for alleged lax working conditions at its various warehouses and fulfillment centers around the country.
In March, a group of four U.S. senators, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. and Cory Booker, D-N.J., wrote a letter to Bezos expressing their concern about the health and safety of Amazon warehouse workers.
Former Amazon employee Christian Smalls demanded that the Bezos-led company close its Staten Island fulfillment center for a deep cleaning after a worker tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-March. Smalls was later fired, with Amazon telling Fox News it terminated him because he violated several terms of his employment.
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After the news of Smalls' termination, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered an investigation into the incident. New York Attorney General Letitia James also issued a statement, saying "it is disgraceful" Smalls was terminated after he "bravely stood up to protect himself and his colleagues."
The Washington Post, which is also owned by Bezos, reported that Amazon workers at 10 warehouses around the country have tested positive for COVID-19.
As of Monday morning, more than 1.86 million coronavirus cases have been diagnosed worldwide, including more than 557,000 in the U.S., the most impacted country on the planet.
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