Amazon Man2 goods vehicles depot at Great Sankey, Warrington, Cheshire, England, UK, WA5 3XA

Amazon is an American technology company that has a multinational presence with offices and facilities around the world. The company is based in Seattle, Washington and has over 1, 600, 000 employees globally, with 950, 000 of those in the US Amazon fulfillment centers are large facilities with hundreds of employees, sometimes thousands. Employees are responsible for five basic tasks: unpacking and inspecting incoming goods; placing goods in storage and recording their location; picking goods from their computer recorded locations to make up an individual shipment; sorting and packing orders; and shipping. A computer that records the location of goods and maps out routes for pickers plays a key role: employees carry hand-held computers which communicate with the central computer and monitor their rate of progress. A picker may walk 10 or more miles a day. In newer fulfillment centers, items are stored on pods and brought to pickers by robots (Amazon Robotics). In the United Kingdom, initial staffing was provided by Randstad Holding and other temporary employment agencies. In the United States, many workers are hired as Amazon employees and granted shares of stock or sign-on bonuses, while others are offered temporary seasonal positions. "When we have permanent positions available, we look to the top-performing temporary associates to fill them, " said an Amazon spokesperson. Amazon acquired Kiva Systems, a warehouse automation company, in 2012. Amazon fulfillment centers can also provide warehousing and order-fulfillment for third-party sellers, for an extra fee. Third-party sellers can use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) to ship for other platforms as well, such as eBay or their own websites