Amazon is headquartered in Seattle Washington.

Sales in 2017 totaled $178 billion.

Amazon has over 550,000 employees in the US, Europe and Asia. Fulfillment Centers employ 90,000 employees. There are 112 fulfillment centers in the US and 7 in Canada and Mexico. There are 41 fulfillment centers in Europe. There are 32 in Asia including Australia.

Amazon is an on-line retailer. Customers go the Amazon website and order merchandise on-line and authorize payment via credit or debit card. Orders are forwarded to Fulfillment Centers located near larger cities in the US, Europe and Asia.

This method of retailing allows consumers to shop from home. It removes the “brick and mortar” cost from retailing and adds the “shipping” cost. This has resulted in expansion by “shippers” like UPS, FedEx and others. The net result is that retail items are cheaper and shopping is more convenient.

The downside to ordering on line is that you don’t get to physically see and tough the merchandise until it arrives at your door. Some consumers who want to buy something prefer to go to a store, inspect it, buy it and take it home. This is not a problem when consumers are familiar with the items they are buying. I’m not sure how you buy clothing without trying it on.

Amazon is auctioning off the location for its “2^nd Headquarters”, but there is no information about what this means. The AJC said Amazon would bring 50,000 jobs and that seems like that’s too high. Amazon seems to have locations like automated warehouses that employ 500 people and might have a $15 million annual payroll. Amazon also has Software Development Centers that might also employ 500 people that might have a $50 million annual payroll. This is good for builders and renters to provide homes for additional people, but it’s hard to see an advantage for the average voter.

Website maintenance is huge in this type of operation to be able to access all the pages that are required to describe all of the products Amazon sells. Amazon should be porting the product information from the manufacturers to the Amazon website, but this is a very high volume activity. Security is another requirement to protect the credit card numbers of all of its customers. The logistics of having manufactured goods ready to deliver in a few days is another big effort to get these deliveries to the fulfillment centers where I assume they are picked up for delivery by UPS and other shipping services.

Amazon announced that it’s a headquarters, but it might really be a Regional Office to cover everything East of the Mississippi. Calling it a headquarters is confusing. Amazon’s foreign subsidiaries have their own CEOs and staffs, but the structure in the US is unknown to the taxpayers of the cities who have entered this tax holiday feeding frenzy.

Atlanta is talking $1 billion in taxpayer funded incentives, but is threatening more. Chicago opened the bidding at $2 billion, Philadelphia bid $3 billion. Maryland bid $5 billion. New Jersey is bidding $7 billion. (AJC 2/4/18).

$7 billion is $7000 million. I don’t know how those cities can recoup the cost of these bribes or if it’s even a good idea to pay anywhere near that much to get a company to move to your town. I hate to think a bunch of politicians anxious to bag a big deal would give some company $billions and hand the bill to the taxpayers. But given the track record of these politicians, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s exactly what they will do.

Taxpayers used to get to vote to approve bribes, but apparently those days are gone. We are used to getting screwed by the legislature that allows the state and municipalities to give away tax dollars without a vote by the taxpayers. The Braves Stadium move to Cobb is a recent example.

If the developers want to put Amazon in the “gulch” downtown, our hasty pudding club of politicians will need to know how to make this work without making the gridlock worse.

Georgia voters will get another big liberal left-coast, global corporation dictating what laws Georgia can have. We certainly don’t want to have any laws on the books that violate Amazon’s Marxist, Islamist Globalist, European corporate sensibilities and “values”.

Because everything we do at the Gold Dome is engineered to increase MARTA ridership no matter what it costs, we may actually get a “transit village” at the “gulch”, so we can have taxpayers subsidize more retail space (ironic).

See below:

List of Amazon locations

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Headquarters

Amazon's global headquarters are in 14 buildings in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood, developed primarily by Vulcan, Inc. from 2008 onward. The first 11 buildings were acquired from Vulcan in 2012 at a cost of $1.16 billion. The company was previously headquartered in rented space within the Pacific Medical Center, located in the city's Beacon Hill neighborhood, from 1998 to 2011.

Amazon is currently building a new three-tower complex in Seattle's Denny Triangle neighborhood to serve as its new headquarters. The plan, designed by NBBJ and named "Rufus 2.0" after a dog who was part of the company in its early days, was approved by the city of Seattle in 2012 and construction began the year after. The first of the towers, nicknamed Doppler, opened on December 14, 2015.

The European headquarters are in Luxembourg's capital, Luxembourg City.

Software development centers

While much of Amazon's software development occurs in Seattle, the company employs software developers in centers across the globe. Some of these sites are run by an Amazon subsidiary called A2Z Development.

United States: Austin, Texas. Cambridge, Massachusetts; Herndon, Virginia; Irvine, California; Cupertino, California; Orange County, California; Pittsburgh, PA; San Francisco; San Luis Obispo, California; Minneapolis; Seattle; New York; Tempe, Arizona; Detroit, Michigan

Europe: Austria: Graz , Germany: Berlin and Dresden, Poland: Gdańsk, Spain: Madrid

South Africa: Cape Town

Fulfillment and warehousing

Fulfillment centers are located in the following cities, often named after an International Air Transport Association airport code. 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, or FBA, to sell on other platforms as well, such as eBay or their own websites.

Warehouses are large and each has hundreds of employees. 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 the newer fulfillment centers, items are stored on pods and brought to pickers by robots (Kiva Systems). 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, while others are offered temporary seasonal positions. "When we have permanent positions available, we look to the top performing temporary associates to fill them." Development of a high level of automation is anticipated in the future following Amazon's 2012 acquisition of Kiva Systems, a warehouse automation company.

Customer Service Center in Huntington, West Virginia

Amazon.es warehouse in San Fernando de Henares, Madrid, Spain)

United States (Fulfillment Center Codes)

Arizona, Phoenix (PHX3, PHX6, PHX7), Goodyear (PHX5), Tolleson (PHX9)

California, Patterson (OAK3), Tracy (OAK4, SJC7, OAK6), Newark (OAK5), San Bernadino (ONT2, ONT5, SNA7, SNA8), Moreno Valley (ONT6, ONT8), Redlands (ONT9), Rialto (SNA4, LGB8), Eastvale (SNA6, SNA9), Sacramento, Stockton (XUSD)

Connecticut, Windsor Locks (BDL1)

Delaware, New Castle (PHL1), Middletown, Delaware (PHL7)

Florida, Davenport (MCO5), Doral (Miami) (MIA5), Ruskin (TPA1), Lakeland (TPA2), Jacksonville (JAX2), Jacksonville (JAX3), Jacksonville (JAX5)

Georgia East Point (ATL6) Lithia Springs (ATL8), Union City (ATL7)

Indiana, Whitestown (IND1, XUSE), Plainfield (IND2, IND3, IND5), Indianapolis (IND4), Jeffersonville (SDF8)

Illinois, Joliet (MDW2, MDW4), Romeoville (MDW5), Edwardsville (STL4, STL6, STL7), Monee (MDW7)

Kansas Kansas City (MKC6), Lenexa (MCI5), Edgerton (MKC4)^[31]

Kentucky, Campbellsville (SDF1), Louisville (SDF2), Shepherdsville (SDF4, SDF6, SDF7, SDF9), Hebron (CVG1, CVG2, CVG3, CVG5, CVG7), Lexington (LEX1, LEX2)

Maryland, Baltimore (BWI2, BWI5)

Massachusetts, Fall River (BOS7), Stoughton (BOS5)

Minnesota, Shakopee (MSP1, MSP5)

Nevada, North Las Vegas (LAS2), Fernley ( closed) (RNO1), Reno (RNO2)

New Hampshire, Nashua (BOS1)

New Jersey, Florence (ABE8), Swedesboro (ACY5), Robbinsville (EWR4), Avenel (EWR5, EWR6/7), Carteret (EWR9, LGA7/8), Teterboro (EWR8), Edison (LGA9)

New York, Lancaster (BUF5)

North Carolina, Charlotte (CLT2), Concord (CLT5), Durham (RDU5)

Ohio, Columbus (CMH1, CMH2)

Oregon, Hillsboro (PDX5)

Pennsylvania, Breinigsville (ABE2, ABE3), Easton (ABE4), Harrisburg (ABE5), Hazleton (AVP1), Gouldsboro (AVP2/3), Carlisle (MDT1, PHL4, PHL6, PHL9, XUSC), Lewisberry (PHL5), Pittsburgh (PIT1)

South Carolina, West Columbia (CAE1), Spartanburg (GSP1)

Tennessee, Chattanooga (CHA1), Charleston (CHA2), Lebanon (BNA1, BNA2), Murfreesboro (BNA3), Nashville (BNA5)

Texas, Coppell (DFW6, FTW2), Fort Worth (DFW7), Humble (HOU1), Schertz (SAT1), San Marcos (SAT2)

Virginia, Petersburg (RIC1), Chester (RIC2, RIC3)

Washington, Sumner (BFI1), DuPont (BFI3), Kent (BFI4, BFI5, BFI6), Bellevue (SEA8)

Wisconsin, Kenosha (MKE1, MKE5)

Canada, Calgary (Balzac), Alberta (Construction is expected to be done fall 2018) (YYC1), Mississauga, Ontario (YYZ1), Milton, Ontario (YYZ2),Brampton, Ontario (YYZ3, YYZ4), Annacis Island a part of Delta, British Columbia ^[40] (YVR2), New Westminster, British Columbia (YVR3)

Mexico, Cuautitlán Izcalli, State of Mexico ^[29](MEX1)

Europe

United Kingdom, as of 2014, 8 in operation, England, Marston Gate, Ridgmont (LTN1), Rugeley, Staffordshire (BHX1), Peterborough (DPE1, EUK5), Doncaster (LBA1), Hemel Hempstead (LTN2), Reading, Scotland, Gourock (Inverclyde) (GLA1),Dunfermline (Fife) (EDI4), Wales, Crymlyn Burrows, Swansea (CWL1)

France, Boigny-sur-Bionne (2000), Saran (2007) (ORY1), Montélimar (2010) (MRS1), Sevrey (2012) (LYS1), Lauwin-Planque (2013) (LIL1)

Germany, Bad Hersfeld (1996 and 2010) (FRA1, FRA3) (Hessen), Leipzig (2006) (LEJ1) (Saxony), Werne (2010 and 2017) (EDE4, EDE5, DTM1) (North Rhine-Westphalia), Rheinberg (2011) (North Rhine-Westphalia), Graben (2011) (Bavaria), Koblenz (2012) (CGN1) (Rhineland-Palatinate), Pforzheim (2012) (STR1) (Baden-Württemberg), Brieselang (2013) (BER3) (Brandenburg), Dortmund (2017) (DTM2) (North Rhine-Westphalia)

Poland, Poznan (2014) (POZ1), Wroclaw (2014 and 2015) (WRO1, WRO2, WRO3, WRO4)