Amazon Mans Up For The Holiday Season

While there are many ways to mark the start of the holiday season each year — the appearance of decorations, the sprinklings of early Black Friday sales, the radio station that only plays Christmas songs for the entire month of December — our favorite here at PYMNTS remains the annual Amazon staff-up.

America’s largest eCommerce player is adding 120,000 temporary employees to work in its fulfillment centers nationwide, according to Thursday (Oct. 12) reports, a temporary workforce that will be spread across 33 states and joining 125,000 existing employees.

“We look forward to welcoming back holiday employees who return year-after-year to Amazon and welcome new faces to the team, many of whom will continue on with regular, full-time roles with the company after the holidays,” said Dave Clark, Amazon senior vice president of global customer fulfillment, in a statement.

The annual rush of seasonal workers will be the hands and feet behind putting millions of customer orders into boxes and sending them forth from the company’s 75 fulfillment centers. And, if Amazon has its way, there will be much to pick and pack for the temporary team as the company begins pushing expanded delivery options, teen shopping accounts and, of course, the ubiquitous Prime program.

All of these elements and more are being pursued in their never-ending quest to put more packages in customers hands through the sheer power of delighting them.

Amazon.com Inc. also made news this week when it announced Wednesday (Oct. 10) it had launched an easy way for teens aged 13 to 17 to shop on the eCommerce website with their own, parent-controlled login information.

In a press release, the Seattle, Washington-based online retailer said teens, can for the first time, use the Amazon App to shop or stream content and, at the same time, keep parents abreast of what they are doing. Parents will have the ability to approve orders and set pre-approved spending limits for each order. Amazon says the new offering provides a way for teenagers to use its offerings with a level of independence and autonomy. The limits can change as the teenager ages, the press release reported.