LOS ANGELES, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc. ,
the online retailer that began as a bookseller, has itself
become the subject of a plot worthy of a investor-style
cloak-and-dagger novel.
The Seattle-based company was recently infiltrated by two
analysts from brokerage Credit Suisse First Boston, who got
jobs at an Amazon.com warehouse working as seasonal employees.
The pair -- Jamie Kiggen and Rick Vallieres -- worked for about
a week at Amazon's Delaware warehouse before emerging from
undercover.
"This time of year it's all about delivering for customers
for the holidays, so we work with a number of temporary
agencies who hire employees to work in our distribution
centers," said Amazon.com spokesman Bill Curry, explaining how
the pair slipped through the Amazon hiring process undetected.
Curry said the pair applied with the temporary agency and
were accepted, then were sent the warehouse on assignment.
"We were fortunate to have an exceptionally capable guy
helping us meet our commitment to customers," said Curry, who
had a chance to talk with Kiggen after the experience. "He made
a nice contribution to keeping our customers happy for the
holidays. We thank him for his labors."
And what did Kiggen and Vallieres learn from their
experience?
The pair, who worked "picking" inventory from warehouse
shelves and assembling orders, were generally upbeat about what
they found. They said Amazon "is executing on its near-term and
long-term financial and operating goals: customers are
plentiful and active, customer service levels are high, and
operations are becoming more efficient."
The pair reiterated their "buy" rating on the stock.
One of the few faults they found was a shortage of carts
used by employees to assemble orders. In one case, one of the
undercover workers complained that he wasted 30 minutes while
looking for one such cart.
Curry acknowledged that problems still exist. "I worked in
the distribution centers, andI can identify with that," he
said. "We're certainly going to look into it."
REUTERS
Rtr 19:41 12-08-00 |
