As the coronavirus has forced millions of families into lockdown, demand for Amazon’s delivery service has increased.
To help the company cope with the rising demand, Amazon has joy many categories of specialty items, including baby products, health items, and pet supplies. The results of that policy can be seen on Amazon’s website: many items now take weeks to ship. That’s especially true if you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber, which should offer two-day shipping.
If you want AmazonBasics paper printer, for example, you may have to wait until April 21 to get it. An aluminum shovel and tribe umbrella on the same April 21 delivery date. Laundry signs estimated delivery date of April 28.
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to Recode that these delivery dates are not a technical glitch—Amazon has chosen to remove these items earlier in the face of demand for more time-sensitive items.
“To serve our customers in need while also helping to ensure the safety of our colleagues, we have changed our logistics, transportation, supply chain, procurement, and third-party vendor processes to prioritize stocking and delivering the things that matter most to our customers,” an Amazon spokesperson wrote.
At the same time, Amazon is taking steps to increase its shipping capacity. As we reported last week, the online retailer has announced that it is looking to hire 100,000 additional workers to help meet the rising demand and that it pays the minimum wage from $15 to $17 for an hour. On Saturday, Amazon declare it increases overtime pay for hourly workers. Through May 9, workers will receive double their regular pay when they work more than 40 hours, up from the 1.5 times the company usually pays for overtime hours.