It also increased its warehouse capacity to match the avalanche of orders flooding its site. By the end of 2021, Amazon had leased and owned roughly 387.1 million square feet of space for its warehouses and data centers — more than double what it reported in 2019.
“This is a period of time when consumers are being much more frugal thinking about how they’re spending and buying,” said David Niekerk, a former Amazon vice president of human resources who oversaw operations. “That’s having an impact on Amazon.” Saunders said the excess capacity is likely to be a short-term problem for Amazon, which he points out has continued to take steps to grow its retail business and draw more sellers to its service. In April, it announced it will extend the benefits of a Prime subscription to online stores beyond its own site, a move that will allow merchants to tap into the company’s vast fulfillment and delivery networks.
Still, closures are already creating issues. A handful of workers at an Amazon delivery station in Bellmar, New Jersey recently walked off the job to protest transfers to other sites after Amazon decided to shutter the facility.