Josh Hendrickson
Right as Amazon is pausing signups for new online grocery customers, the company is also delivering good news—third-party sellers can start shipping nonessential items soon. The report comes through The Wall Street Journal and according to the site, Amazon may allow the change as quickly as next week.
You may remember that Amazon put a focus on only shipping essential items last month due to the struggle of increased demand. The idea was to increase the speed that Amazon could restock and ship out necessary items like hand sanitizer and toilet paper.
But now, in a statement to The Wall Street Journal, the company says that it will relax the rule:
Later this week, we will allow more products into our fulfillment centers. Products will be limited by quantity to enable us to continue prioritizing products and protecting employees, while also ensuring most selling partners can ship goods into our facilities.
But, the company isn’t wholly lifting all the limits. The priority is still putting a focus on essential products, and to that end, on Monday, Amazon announced it would hire 75,000 new employees to help cope with increased demand.
The change can’t come at a better time. As much of the world self-isolates to help fight the spread of COVID-19, it’s discovering you need more than bare essentials to stay home. Sometimes you need the entertainment to keep your mind occupied, even if that’s a board game, a good book, or the latest video game. That may fit the definition of “essential item,” but relieving boredom is an important facet of stay-at-home orders too.
via The Wall Street Journal (paywall)
