| |
|
| |
|
 |
Supply
Chain by the Numbers |
| |
|
| |
- Aug, 19, 2021
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
Big Sign-on Bonuses at Amazon Sortation Hub; Container Volumes Soaring at Most US Ports; US Manufacturing Rises in July, still Down from Pre-Pandemic; Amazon Dept. Stores? |
| |
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
$3000 |
|
| That, rather incredibly, it seems to SCDigest, is the sign-on bonus available to some new hires at a sortation center near Newport, Delaware. Amazon has been known to offer $1000 sign-on bonuses across the US, but the limited-time $3000 offer takes things to a whole new level, as distribution labor costs continued to soar. Walmart, for example, recently released a new program in which some employees can make as much as $250 per week in bonus payments for meeting certain attendance and other targets. Amazon has hired about 500 employees for the fulfillment center and intends to hire about 500 more before the end of the year. The new site will ill open in late summer or early fall, Amazon said. The minimum wage for the 3.8 million square foot site on a per-hour basis is $16.25. A job posting says specific job types and shifts are required for the bonus, which will be paid out in installments. In a sign of the time, the new Amazon facility took the place of the General Motors plant, which manufactured Chevrolet vehicles for more than six decades there before closing in 2009. |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
| That was the index value for US manufacturing output in July, according to the usual monthly report from the Federal Reserve Bank, as released earlier this week. That was a nice increase from a level of 98.2 in August, in a good sign for the economy. However, it means US factory production is still down more than 5% from the February 2020 level seen before the start of the pandemic in March. It also means production is still below the baseline year of 2012 (index = 100) now nine years later, and far from the peak of about 110 seen in late 2007. |
| |
| |
|
|
| |
| |
30,000 |
|
That’s about how large in terms of square footage planned new department store-type retail stores Amazon plans to open inn California and Ohio, according to a report this week from the Wall Street Journal. That’s is much smaller than the 100,000 or so square feet of selling space seen in a typical department store, but will give Amazon a foothold in a type of store its own on-line model helped to wreak serious damage to. The stores will feature apparel, household items, electronics and other categories, insiders told the Journal. The stores will have a footprint similar to scaled-down formats that Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, and other department-store chains have begun opening of late. It is unclear what brands Amazon will offer in the stores, although the company’s private-label goods are expected to feature prominently, the Journal’s sources say. It adds to Amazon’s growing roster of physical stores include Whole Foods, a new Amazon grocery store concept, and Go convenience stores. The report says Amazon approached some US apparel brands about two years ago with the idea of opening large-scale stores that would showcase their products. The expanded store footprint would enable Amazon to offer consumers a bevy of items they could try out in person before deciding to buy, especially apparel. Can Amazon make a success in a format that its own success has helped push many into deep financial challenges? Should be very interesting to see. |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
| |
 |
![]() |
 |
|
| |
 |
Feedback |
|
|
|
![]()
|
No Feedback on this article yet.
|
|
![]() |
|
|
|
![]() |
 |
![]() |
 |
|
| |
That was the rise in container volumes in July at the Port of Savannah, as ports on the East, West and Gulf coasts see the good times keep rolling. The Port of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest by TEU volume, reported it processed 890,799 20-foot-equivalent containers in July, marking a 4% increase compared with last year and 12 consecutive months of year-over-year growth. The adjacent Port of Long Beach notched a 4.1% year-over-year increase. “Ships arrived last month to move these empty containers out of the harbor and clear valuable terminal space as we handle historic amounts of trade,” Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero said. “These boxes are a valuable commodity in the overstressed global supply chain.” In the Gulf of Mexico, Port Houston saw a 26.9% year-over-year improvement in July, processing 297,621 containers compared with 234,737. Back on the Atlantic Coast, the Port of Virginia said this past July was its best on record and the second-busiest month of the year, notching a 32.6% increase by processing 293,126 containers compared with 221,028 a year ago.
