RadioShack On Brink Of Bankruptcy; Amazon, Sprint In Talks To Buy Stores, Reports Say

RadioShack Corp. is edging toward bankruptcy and both Sprint Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. are interested in buying some of its stores, according to reports.

Under a bankruptcy deal, the century-old electronics retailer would sell about half of its store leases to Sprint Corp., headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, and close the rest, Bloomberg.com reported Monday. The remaining stores would operate with the wireless carrier’s name, meaning RadioShack would cease to exist as a stand-alone retailer.

“Sprint and RadioShack also have discussed co-branding the stores. … It’s also possible that another bidder could emerge that would buy RadioShack and keep it operating,” the report says

Sanpower Group, one of the China-based firms that brought gadget retailer Brookstone out of bankruptcy with the intent of operating it as a stand-alone brand, has expressed interest in RadioShack, too.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/breaking-news/index.ssf/2015/02/radioshack_on_brink_of_bankrup.html

Amazon.Com Distribution Center Planned For Pittsburgh’s West End

Locator map with the Fairywood neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania highlighted. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Amazon.com is coming to Pittsburgh.

The Seattle-based Internet giant has leased 250,000 square feet — equivalent to 4.3 football fields — in the former Roomful Express warehouse at 2250 Roswell Drive in the Fairywood section of the West End where it will establish a “sort center” that can deliver items within 24 hours of purchase.

The site is part of a new Amazon network of “sort centers,” where customer orders will be sorted by final destination and consolidated onto trucks for faster delivery, said Nina Lindsey, an Amazon spokeswoman. Amazon expects to increase its sort centers from 8 to more than 15 by the end of the year.

Pittsburgh’s sort center will serve the immediate area and nearby regions, she said, though she declined to specify the areas.

Read more: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/6499265-74/amazon-sort-center#ixzz38VZOOh6W
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Amazon May Predict And Ship Your Next Order Before You Buy It

Deutsch: Logo von Amazon.com (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — Amazon believes it may have the ability to anticipate consumer demand on a granular level – so much so, that it could actually begin shipping an order before you even buy it. The online retailer is working to refine predictive logistics in an effort to further shorten shipping times to customers. “Anticipatory package shipping” – a process patented by Amazon late last month – may become a part of that process.

By analyzing consumer data, such as prior orders, product searches, wish lists, shopping cart contents – and even cursor activity — Amazon could predict a consumer’s future purchase and move merchandise to a nearby fulfillment center in anticipation of a subsequent order.

By forecasting customer behavior, Amazon seeks to speed transit times to customers while utilizing lower-cost ground shipping rather than expedited methods “that may rival the price paid for the merchandise.

Read more: http://business-news.thestreet.com/philly/story/amazon-may-predict-and-ship-your-next-order-you-buy-it-0/1

Amazon To Hire 70,000 Seasonal Workers

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lehigh County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Amazon.com Inc said it expects to hire more than 70,000 full-time seasonal employees across its order fulfillment centers in the United States, a 40 percent increase from last year.

Amazon operates a fulfillment center in Upper Macungie Township.  That warehouse had about 2,000 Amazon employees last year, making it the Lehigh Valley‘s ninth-largest employer.

Amazon, which has about 88,400 employees, said it has converted more than 7,000 temporary employees in the United States into full-time employees so far this year.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-amazon-hire-seasonal-workers-20131001,0,3597728.story#ixzz2gVPZBw86 
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Pennsylvania’s Online Shoppers Soon Will Have To Pay Sales Tax

Tax-free online purchases will be curtailed in Pennsylvania starting next month, but activists pushing for a federal law say much more needs to be done to address the issue of tax-free Internet shopping, and the millions in sales tax that states are missing out on.

Pennsylvania alone would lose between $254 million and $410 million in uncollected revenues this year without legislative intervention, according to a 2011 study by Carnegie Mellon University professor Robert Strauss.

But starting Sept. 1, online retailers with a physical presence in the state will have to pay at least 6 percent sales tax for items purchased by Pennsylvanians.

And for those shoppers in Allegheny County, the online sales tax would be 7 percent — a 6 percent share going to the state, and an additional 1 percent for Allegheny County. In Philadelphia, they tack on an extra 2 percent, meaning the online sales tax — just like the regular, bricks-and-mortar sales tax — would be 8 percent.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/legal/pennsylvanias-online-shoppers-soon-will-have-to-pay-sales-tax-649674/#ixzz246C7JCAT

Amazon Workers Cool After Company Took Heat For Hot Warehouse

This time last year, online retailer Amazon.com had ambulances parked outside its Breinigsville warehouse complex on hot days, with emergency medical personnel ready to take workers suffering from heat injuries to nearby hospitals.

Today, Amazon warehouse workers say the facility is refreshingly cool when it’s hot and muggy outside. The company recently installed 40 roof-top air conditioners in its 615,000-square-foot warehouse, part of a $52 million investment in cooling its warehouses around the country.

“I didn’t even break a sweat today,” one worker said at the end of his shift Tuesday, when Lehigh Valley temperatures topped 90 degrees. “It was really nice. I noticed the difference as soon as I walked in the door.”

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-amazon-warehouse-air-conditioning-20120602,0,7480474.story

Amazon A Virtual No-Show In Hometown Philanthropy

SEATTLE — Conceived on Wall Street, born in a Bellevue, Wash., rental house, and based in a dozen buildings in downtown Seattle, Amazon has grown into one of the Internet’s most-recognized name brands.

But Amazon, which employed 1,381 in 2011 at its Breinigsville warehouse complex, cuts an astoundingly low profile in the civic life of its hometown.

It’s a minor player in charitable giving in the Seattle area. Some nonprofit officials say it can be difficult to find someone at Amazon to even talk with them. Other business leaders say they’re hard-pressed to name examples of Amazon playing a significant role on broader public issues.

And while Amazon’s logo smile appears on billions of boxes that criss-cross the globe, neither that smile nor its name can be seen on a single building at its sprawling new campus in Seattle’s South Lake Union area. The company, which turns 18 this summer, won’t even acknowledge how many employees it has in the area.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-amazon-charity-20120407,0,5273935.story

What Companies Are The Worst And The Best For Customer Service?

According to an MSN Money-Zogby International customer service survey, these companies made their 2010 Wall of Shame:

1. AOL

2. Bank of America

3. Comcast

4. Sprint Nextel

5. Capital One

6. Dish Network

7. Time Warner Cable

8. Wells Fargo

9. Citibank

10. HSBC

Interesting that this list consists primarily of banks/credit card companies and cable tv/phone/internet service providers…hmmmm.

2010 Wall of Fame recipients are:

1. Amazon

2. Trader Joe’s

3. Netflix

4. Apple

5. FedEx

6. Publix

7. Southwest Airlines

8. UPS

9. Nordstrom

10. Marriott

Interesting who did and didn’t make the top 10 here.  I was surprised I didn’t see Target or Kohl’s for starters.

To view the complete list of all 150 companies and their scores, click on the link below and scroll about half way down the page to find the list:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/see-the-full-list-of-company-rankings-2010.aspx