Gov. Tom Wolf Powers Up Conveyors At Opening Of New Urban Outfitters Fulfillment In Gap

If Gov. Tom Wolf wanted to see his campaign promises in action, he came to the right place Thursday morning, said Urban Outfitters CEO Richard Hayne.

Jobs that pay? “You’re looking at them,” Hayne said at the grand opening for Urban Outfitters’ massive 1 million square foot e-commerce fulfillment center in Salisbury Township just outside Gap on Route 30.

The site will ramp up from the existing staffing of 150 people to 500 as the year progresses, and could reach 1,000 to 1,500. Standard starting pay is $11.50 per hour, director of fulfillment Carl Carbonell said.

It also exemplifies “schools that teach” and “government that works,” Wolf’s other two priorities, Hayne said.

Read more:

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/watch-gov-tom-wolf-powers-up-conveyors-at-opening-of/article_a09c1d32-0ad2-11e5-b006-43c0ef88a8ae.html

Wal-Mart Holding Job Fair In Easton For Bethlehem Distribution Center

Wal-Mart is holding a job fair in Easton on Friday for its second distribution center in Bethlehem.

The job fair runs from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at ProJeCt of Easton’s Fowler Literacy Center at 200 Ferry St.

Online applications for unloaders, processors, order fillers and breakpack positions may be completed at the job fair, ProJeCt said. Representatives from Wal-Mart will be available to assist in the application process.

Read more:  http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/breaking-news/index.ssf/2015/04/wal-mart_holding_job_fair_in_e.html

Amazon To Add 400 Jobs At Hazle Twp. Facility

The Amazon fulfillment center in the Humboldt Industrial Park in Hazle Township is growing.

The company said Wednesday it is adding 400 full-time positions to the 1,500 already there.

Kelly Cheeseman, an Amazon spokeswoman, said the new people are being added “to help pick, pack and ship customer orders.”

Cheeseman said the positions are being added now “to meet growing customer demand.”

Interested candidates can apply at www.workatamazonfulfillment.com.

Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/news/amazon-to-add-400-jobs-at-hazle-twp-facility-1.1850160

Study Ranks York Area High As Location For Distribution Centers

A new report gives the York area high marks as a place for locating a distribution center.

Access to a rail line and the Port of Baltimore and comparatively low labor costs make the area one of the best places in the U.S. for siting a distribution center, according to a report from The Boyd Company, a Princeton, N.J.-based firm that advises companies on where they should locate.

The study comes after Target Corp. selected West Manchester Township earlier this month as the site for a massive facility to fill orders for its online customers. And auto parts maker Federal-Mogul is locating a distribution center in a new 708,000 square-foot building Chicago development firm First Industrial Realty Trust built in Manchester Township near Exit 24 on Interstate 83..

York does well when it comes to attracting such facilities “and we see that trend continuing,” John Boyd Jr., principal at The Boyd Company, said in a telephone interview.

Read more:

http://www.ydr.com/business/ci_27559916/study-ranks-york-area-high-location-distribution-centers

Spring House Brewing’s $2M Lancaster City Project To Be Completed In Spring

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

Next May or so, Matt Keasey will be able to take his foot off the proverbial brake.

That’s when Keasey will no longer need to ration how much of his Spring House Brewing beer he sells to his wholesale distributors.

By then, Spring House Brewing’s new city brewery and brew pub will be operational, replacing a smaller brewery in Conestoga.

“It’s difficult,” said Keasey, the founder, brewmaster and co-owner.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/business/local_business/spring-house-brewing-s-m-city-project-to-be-completed/article_26864ea2-6b75-11e4-84f5-87894514c58c.html

Online Retailer Zulily To Open Hub In Bethlehem That Employs 1,200

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

Online retailer zulily plans to establish a distribution center in Bethlehem that will create 1,200 full-time jobs over the next three years, Gov. Tom Corbett announced today.

The hub is targeted for 10 Emery St., an 800,000-square-foot warehouse owned by Liberty Property Trust in Lehigh Valley Industrial Park VII — former Bethlehem Steel Corp. land off Route 412.

Corbett said in a news release that the building will serve as zulily’s Northeast fulfillment center and the company is making a multimillion-dollar investment there.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2014/09/online_retailer_zulily_to_open.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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Lower Macungie Approves 3 Million Square Feet Of Warehouses

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

Lower Macungie Township officials signed off tonight on plans to construct just under 3 million square feet of warehouses.

The plans by developer Liberty Property Trust call for the buildings to be developed on 225 acres in the western part of the township, near Spring Creek and Mertztown roads.

The project includes three warehouses which are 1.2 million, 1.1 million and 650,000 square feet in size, as well as a 10,000-square-foot office building, township planning director Sara Pandl said.

Township commissioners voted 5-0 tonight to approve the project. Construction is expected to begin as early as this year and could conclude by 2015, according to Bill Bumber, Liberty Property Trust’s vice president of development.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/lehigh-county/index.ssf/2014/07/lower_macungie_approves_3_mill.html

Job Prospects For Luzerne County Grads? Cashier Tops The List

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

Graduating and looking for a job in Luzerne County?

Your best bet: Cashier. Second best bet: Retail salesperson. Keep going down the list; with few exceptions, the fastest growing occupations around here are in low-paying, low-skill jobs.

Or you can scan the state’s “High Priority Occupations” list for the county, an attempt “to align workforce training and education investments with occupations that are in demand by employers, have higher skill needs and are most likely to provide family sustaining wages,” according to the state Department of Labor & Industry.

Of 2,202 projected annual openings in 111 high priority occupations ranging from accountants to welders, 1,419 of them — 64.4 percent — generally require no more than a high school degree, valuing on-the-job training more.

Read more: http://timesleader.com/news/local-news-news/1408957/Grads-face-rough-job-market

It’s Personal: How Lundgren Led Macy In Bouncing Back

Macy’s logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As backdrop to the legendary parade, the Macy’s store at New York City’s Herald Square is a star of the show on Thanksgiving. But ask Terry J. Lundgren about Philadelphia, and the Macy’s CEO shares a surprising adoration for a different landmark altogether – the one in Center City that opened a century ago as Wanamakers.

“That is one of the most unique stores in the entire enterprise of Macy’s Inc.,” the chairman, president, and chief executive said as he gushed, largely unprompted, about the Philly stunner that is home to the world’s largest working pipe organ, the kitschy-but-adored Christmas Light Show, and the Dickens Village exhibit.

“It’s the only store in the world that has a pipe organ and that has performances on this organ every single week – and we maintain that. I mean, who would do that?”

Here’s who: A $28 billion company that believes, even amid the growing popularity of Internet shopping, that retailing remains a local game. With this guiding principle and Lundgren’s charisma as change agents, the 800-store chain, now based in Cincinnati, has grabbed a top position only a few years after the department-store sector looked like an endangered species.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20131128_How_Lundgren_led_Macy_in_bouncing_back.html#u2dKLoMavfuplyf4.99

Lehigh Valley Airport Sells Land For $9.6 Million

Aerial photo of Lehigh Valley International Airport (IATA: ABE, ICAO: KABE) in Hanover Township, 2005 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority agreed Tuesday to sell 253 acres of surplus airport property to the Rockefeller Group so that it can be developed into a massive Fed-Ex Ground warehouse that could employ more than 1,000 people.

It’s a deal that could solve many of the airport’s financial problems, but it also comes with some risks. The money could take as long as two years to come, while the airport needs as much as $5 million of it by the end of next year. And if Fed-Ex decided against building in Allen Township, the airport could end up getting nothing.

In a separate move, the authority also gave Rockefeller the first option to buy another 281 acres, and encouraged the airport staff to begin negotiating to sell another 298 acres to local developers that include Lehigh Valley Industrial Park Inc.

“We know the clock is ticking and we have a [financial] gun to our head,” said authority chairman Tony Iannelli. “But this [project] is for real. We’ll all be keeping our fingers crossed.”

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-allentown-airport-authority-meeting-20131022,0,881921.story#ixzz2iUfo7CgL
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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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Booming Greater Berks Food Bank Considers Bigger Home

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Greater Berks Food Bank has seen its demand triple in the 18 years the organization has been in its Muhlenberg Township warehouse, and officials are eager to expand the facility or move into a larger building.

A feasibility study, initiated in June, is expected to wrap up this month and provide an idea of what that would cost.

“We simply are out of space and cannot do more at our current location,” executive director Peg Bianca said of the 19,500-square-foot warehouse off Tuckerton Road.

“We are constantly moving pallets of food out of the way to get to the products on the pallet behind them,” Bianca added, “and have been storing some of our inventory off site as well.”

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=501724

Perry Township Panel Rejects Preliminary Plans For Industrial Park

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Perry Township residents burst into applause Wednesday night when the township planning commission voted unanimously to deny approval of preliminary plans to turn the Perry Golf Course into an industrial park.

More than 75 residents were packed into the small meeting room for the session, which was preceded by a small-scale demonstration.

Many of those who demonstrated were residents of Zions Church Road, which the developers have planned on using as the entry point for the industrial park.

Several carried signs that urged moving the entrance to the proposed industrial park to Zweizig Road from Zions Church Road.

Matt Clymer, of Key Development Group, Chester County, the group pursuing the industrial park, said the decision wasn’t unexpected.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=474646

Pennsylvania Gasoline Tax May Soon Be Highest In U.S.

Map of Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Gov. Tom Corbett struck a populist note in this week’s budget address, saying lifting the Oil Company Franchise Tax cap would force oil and gas companies to “pay their fair share.” But the increase will likely be passed onto consumers at the pump and may make Pennsylvania gasoline the most heavily taxed in the nation.

As levied now, the tax is about 9 percent of the price of a gallon of gas, but calculated on a maximum price of $1.25 per gallon, yielding about 20.3 cents. By gradually lifting that cap over time to reflect actual gas prices – already more than double the cap – the amount of the tax paid per gallon could more than double.

Gov. Corbett tried to soften the blow by cutting another state tax on fuel, the excise tax, from 12 cents down to 10 cents.

That could be cold comfort for consumers.

Read more:  http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/business/pa-gasoline-tax-may-soon-be-highest-in-u-s-1.1441386

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

Harsco Corporation Turning Little Used Site Near Capitol Into Regional Warehouse And Distribution Center

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The City of Harrisburg is going to benefit from more urban renewal when Harsco Corporation turns a 21-acre site near the Pennsylvania State Capitol into a regional warehouse and distribution center.

The number of jobs created is relatively small at 20; however the site gets cleaned up and given a purpose.  Considering its proximity to our State Capitol Complex, this is good news as it will enhance the appearance the area surrounding the capitol.  Harsco is spending $2 million to renovate the site which is a significant investment in the City of Harrisburg.  The improvements should be completed by April.

More good news is that Harsco will be relocating 35 senior-level positions to a new site near its Camp Hill headquarters.  This move will help Harsco’s leadership function as a more unified team.

To learn more about this company, you may click on their website:

http://www.harsco.com/