- Amazon is putting all warehouse tours in North America on hold as fears over the coronavirus grow in the US.
- The move is the latest preventive measure Amazon has taken in recent weeks in response to the outbreak.
- The suspension also comes at a time when Amazon has extended an open invitation to US lawmakers critical of its working conditions to tour one of its warehouse facilities.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Amazon is halting all warehouse tours in North America as concerns over the coronavirus outbreak grow in the US.
Amazon announced on its corporate website last week that it has put all warehouse tours in the region on hold indefinitely to protect its employees and guests from contracting the novel coronavirus. The coronavirus, which first affected people in China in December, has now killed more than 3,000 people worldwide and is expected to spread more widely in the US, though the vast majority of cases are in China.
“The well-being of our employees and guests are of paramount importance to us,” Amazon wrote on its corporate website. “Due to an abundance of caution and following developments relating to preventive measures taken for health in the region regarding the Coronavirus (COVID-19), we have made the decision to pause all fulfillment center tours in North America. We look forward to re-opening the program in the coming months once there is more clarity on the global health situation.”
An Amazon spokesperson said in an emailed statement: “The safety of our teams and guests is our number one priority. We are closely following local and international health authority guidance, and out of an abundance of caution have decided to pause fulfillment center tours. We look forward to re-opening the program once more is known about the situation locally and globally.”
The change is the latest preventive measure Amazon has taken in response to the growing risk of the coronavirus.
Last month, Amazon made last-minute orders to stock up on inventory shipped from China in anticipation of supply-chain slowdowns caused by the outbreak in the region. It also advised third-party sellers on its site to take precautions, like canceling previous orders the sellers are no longer able to deliver. It also banned over 1 million products on its site that falsely claimed to cure or defend against the coronavirus disease.
Internally, Amazon told all 798,000 of its employees to avoid “non-essential travel” domestically and internationally because of concerns over the disease. The worldwide-operations team, which runs all logistics and shipping, was instructed not to plan any meetings that require travel until at least April. It also replaced some in-person job interviews with video calls. On Sunday, Amazon confirmed that two of its employees in Italy had contracted the disease.
Open invitation
Amazon started offering warehouse tours in recent years after multiple reports about hostile working conditions at its facilities, where packages are stored, packed, and shipped out for delivery. The tours are designed to dispute those allegations of poor worker treatment, but employees are strictly prohibited from speaking during them, according to recent visits by Business Insider. At least 44 sites worldwide offer some type of warehouse tour, according to Amazon’s website.
The tour suspension comes at a time when Amazon has extended open invitations to multiple lawmakers who have criticized its business practices.
Just last month, 15 US Democratic senators, including presidential candidates Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, wrote a public letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos demanding a change in its work culture and more detailed safety records of its warehouse employees.
“We urge you to overhaul this profit-at-all costs culture at your company and take the immediate steps identified in this letter to ensure Amazon’s managers treat your workers fairly and do not require them to risk their own health and safety in the course of doing their jobs,” the letter said.
In response, Amazon renewed its open invitation to the lawmakers who wrote the letter to tour its warehouses. Last month, Jay Carney, Amazon’s senior vice president of global corporate affairs, tweeted that “a large majority of senators” who signed the letter had failed to make a tour.
“In 2019 alone, we welcomed 300,000 visitors. Unfortunately, a large majority of the senators on this letter have never visited an FC. We’d be honored if they would,” Carney tweeted.
