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IMPLOSION: Amazon scraps plans to build 42 new warehouses, shuts down 2 active facilities

By arseniotoledo // 2022-09-07

Amazon is abandoning plans to build 42 new warehouses all over the United States and is closing down two active facilities. The company is determined to reduce the size of its sprawling business amid slowing sales growth. MWPVL International, which tracks Amazon's massive real estate footprint, noted that the company has either shuttered ongoing plans or abandoned plans in development to open 42 facilities, totaling nearly 25 million square feet of usable space. Furthermore, MWPVL said Amazon is delaying opening an additional 21 locations, totaling nearly 28 million square feet of usable space. One of the facilities whose opening has been postponed is a massive 700,000-square-foot facility in Nebraska. This facility is already constructed but won't open until 2024. Amazon experienced a massive boom in business in 2020 and 2021, when most of the U.S. – and most of the world for that matter – relied on the company's online marketplace and delivery services for their needs. Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky noted back in April that Amazon doubled the size of its operations and workforce between mid-2021 to April 2022. But now, this surge in demand that accommodated this rapid expansion is slowing down, leaving the company with a massive surplus in space that it needs to get rid of to save on operating costs. It is even looking to sublease at least 10 million square feet of the company's extra warehouse space. (Related: Consumer demand is drying up, leaving shelves at big-box retailers overstocked with things nobody wants.) "There remains some serious cutting to do before year-end – in North America and the rest of the world," said Mark Wulfraat, founding president of MWPVL.

Amazon fires over 300 people in two delivery stations

The revelation that Amazon is curbing its real estate expansion comes less than a week after company officials warned its management in Maryland that it plans to close two delivery stations in October. These stations are located in Hanover and Essex, near Baltimore. They employ more than 300 people. Matt Day and Spencer Soper, writing for Bloomberg, noted that in previous years, Amazon usually rushes to open new facilities and hire thousands more workers during the fall to prepare for the rise in demand during the holiday shopping season. Amazon spokesperson Maria Boschetti said that the company will offer staff at the Hanover and Essex stations the chance to transfer to other delivery stations in the area. Boschetti further claimed that the Maryland closures are necessary to facilitate the shift of the company's workforce into more modern buildings. "We regularly look at how we can improve the experience for our employees, partners, drivers and customers, and that includes upgrading our facilities," said Boschetti. Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy has also pledged to dial back on the company's rapid expansion, which has saddled it not just with a surplus in space, but also with far too many employees. Amazon is currently leaving many vacant positions in its retail division open. Business Insider noted that the company's retail division has been hit hard by uncontrolled inflation. Site closures also occur but are rarer, and many Amazon workers are bracing for more. During the second quarter of the year, Amazon's workforce shrank by roughly 100,000 jobs to 1.52 million. This is the biggest quarter-to-quarter contraction in the company's history. Amazon's growing labor union, which recently won a union election – the first for the corporation – at a company warehouse in Staten Island, is expected to be up in arms over more belt-tightening that could see the company's workforce shrink even further. Such a move could complicate Amazon's already fragile relations with its overworked employees. More Amazon-related news can be found at JeffBezosWatch.com. Watch this clip from InfoWars as host Harrison Smith talks about how Amazon forces warehouse workers to chant "positive affirmations" every hour. This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.

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