Amazon will hire 1,000 more workers in Inland Empire

[Recursion]

Source: Fontana Herald News

Amazon announced Tuesday morning, June 2 that it is hiring for 1,000 full-time positions at its centers in San Bernardino, Moreno Valley, and Redlands in order to meet growing customer demand.

These openings at Inland Empire facilities are in addition to the 6,000 full-time jobs Amazon announced it was hiring for across its U.S. network just last week.

...

The company said that full-time employees at Amazon receive competitive hourly wages and a comprehensive benefits package, including healthcare, 401(k) and company stock awards starting on day one.

Amazon also offers regular full-time employees innovative programs like Career Choice, where it will pre-pay up to 95 percent of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon. Since the program's launch, employees are pursuing degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming and radiology, to name a few.

Read more: http://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/business/article_75b0c866-0942-11e5-8a4f-8bb7fa6a2bab.html

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The job listings (here for San Bernardino, here for Redlands) list the starting pay at $12/hour. Not great, but that allows one earner to support a family of four at (just) above the poverty line with only a high school diploma, or two earners to reach the national median household income (or very nearly so). The median household income in SB is $38K, so two earners gets you significantly above that.

This in addition to the 6000 full-time positions Amazon recently announced they are opening in the US.

[darkangel218]

1. Not bad.

Go Amazon!

As a costumer I have no complaints. Hopefully the employees will be just as happy as I am.

[C Moon]

2. I had a friend who worked for them, and wasn't happy with Amazon...

but he could be one of the few.
I too hope they are kind employers, and it's always good to see more jobs.

[darkangel218]

3. Not just more jobs, but decent wages and benefits.

Let's hope they are /keep doing the right thing!

[C Moon]

4. Yeah. I recall reading something (I believe it was on DU) about the horrible job conditions

for those who package orders.
I don't recall much about it, but there were some unhappy folks doing that work.

[darkangel218]

5. I recall that as well.

But $12/hour plus benefits sounds great! I used to work for a lot less when doing security, out in the elements, with no benefits except paid vacay after 6 months.

[C Moon]

6. Ouch. Security work sounds tough. I feel for those guys/gals whenever I see them.

[Recursion]

10. Worst job I ever had was as a security guard for the Home Shopping Network's fulfillment warehouse

That was really, really awful

[mahatmakanejeeves]

17. It was based on a series in the Allentown, Pennsylvania, newspaper.

Inside Amazon's Warehouse: Workers Tell of Brutal Heat, Dizzying Pace (+Fake Promises of Perm. Jobs)

Inside Amazon's Warehouse

[Sunlei]

18. to work in a warehouse (or outside)is a hot job but plenty of people can and do work outside.

[Recursion]

9. The warehouse work is really, really hard

And there are some climate control problems, apparently (they even mention this in the job posting).

That said, $12/hour for a job that doesn't require anything more than a diploma would be a big step up for a lot of people.

Like I said, 1 earner can support a family of four a bit above the poverty line on that -- that means this at least could be 1000 SoCal families coming out of poverty.

[SoapBox]

8. There was a story out today...can't remember where

that said they were gonna offer free shipping on orders of $10?

Something like that.

p.s...the article was in USA Today...items under 8 ounces and $10 and less will ship free.

[Recursion]

15. Not just free but *same day* in larger markets

That's a huge development in the Retail Wars.

[Recursion]

12. Good reason to work directly for Amazon, rather than a staffing firm

For that matter, I've read suggestions that this big increase in direct hires rather than temps was a response to McClelland and some other journalists.

[inanna]

19. Thanks for posting this article!

It's long...but well worth the read.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

13. I have been in a lot of these types of facilities,

The only ones I would characterize as "nice" were brand new facilities operated by FedEx SupplyChain.

The problem with the terrible ones I have been in is they just weren't really intended to have order pickers on foot running around, they were intended to have a few guys in forklifts.

[Recursion]

14. The San Bernardino facility is I think 2 years old

And it's largely conveyer based. The scanners sound like PITAs, but then again I remember just having to "know" where each SKU was, or look at a laminated table each time, and that's not much better.

Honestly a lot of the complaints about the fulfillment center conditions seem to be along the lines of "warehouse work is grueling and difficult". Yes, it is. The crap temp staffing agencies have pulled is a huge problem, and I hope that these hires are a sign that Amazon is pulling away from them at least for non-seasonal hires. But an article that says "working in a warehouse is backbreaking, mind-numbing, uncomfortable, and incredibly hard work" is just kind of repeating itself.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

16. It's mostly an issue of demand for the said facilities

can see any well situated large building become a warehouse these days. My former employer, a major retailer, was astonished that a hellish old distribution center that had been practically abandoned since they stopped shipping by rail was put back into use more or less untouched after they sold the site for redevelopment last year. The new owner paved over the railroad sidings to build a bigger parking lot and that's about it. It was just sort of taken for granted that the site would be bought by a residential developer, all the serious bidders were logistics companies or other retailers.

[libdem4life]

20. That is great news for that area. It will give a great boost to the economy.

[itsrobert]

21. So the Calfornnia internet sales tax for Amazon actually created jobs?

And all these bloggers and Adam Carolla were telling us it will costs jobs and shutter businesses that sell on Amazon.