Amazon permanently closes several popular warehouses

The storage capacity has plummeted and the warehouses are full. Just as terrifying as the sharp drop in order volume is that there are orders but no goods to ship. Recently, Amazon's warehouse overflow problem has remained difficult to solve, and the newly effective fees have caused sellers to complain wildly.

Permanently closed! Four Amazon warehouses exit the stage of history

Recently, Yien.com noticed that many freight forwarders have posted such notices in their WeChat Moments:

" The four warehouses MEM1, MQJ1, QXY8, and HMW4 have been officially confirmed by Amazon to be permanently closed . Sellers are advised to pay close attention to Amazon's official notifications and adjust delivery plans and inventory management strategies in a timely manner to avoid potential operational interruptions and economic losses ! "

In this regard, several freight forwarders have also informed sellers: If customers have created labels but have not yet shipped the goods, please contact Amazon immediately to re-create the labels; for goods that are already on the way but have not yet been delivered, please re-create the labels and contact the freight forwarding company you are cooperating with to change the warehouse.

As soon as this news came out, a group of sellers were "blown away":

"——My goods are being picked up from the container, and it's really annoying now;

——Why didn’t my freight forwarder notify me?

——The ship is late, otherwise my goods would have arrived before the closure;

——Why didn’t my background receive this notification?

..."

Sellers said that Amazon did not take into account the goods in the corresponding warehouses. Some sellers said that their backend did not receive this notification, but the freight forwarder said that the backend of their appointment warehouse had received the corresponding notification.

In other words, the seller's backend and the freight forwarder's backend were not synchronized, and the freight forwarder did not notify the seller in a timely manner.

In fact, as early as January, there was a notice that MEM1, MQJ1, QXY8, and HMW4 would suspend the reservation and receipt of FBA goods. However, some people in the industry thought it was just a temporary closure like the previous warehouse explosion, but it turned out to be a permanent closure.

Earlier, around the beginning of January, due to the intensification of the snowstorm in the United States, a number of Amazon warehouses were temporarily closed, including MEM1 and MQJ1. At that time, the freight forwarder said that MQJ1 would reopen on February 24 , US time , and the reopening time of MEM1 was unknown. But now these warehouses have been sentenced to death by Amazon.

Along with the above notice, there was also news that popular warehouses such as GYR2 and ONT8 were temporarily closed due to warehouse explosions and other issues . However, these two warehouses have now reopened for reservations.

Is it hard to get an appointment? Amazon warehouse rejection rate is as high as 90%

Before the Lunar New Year, sellers rush to ship goods in batches, waiting to sell them during the Spring Festival holiday; after the Lunar New Year, they rush to restock when all the goods are sold out. It is reported that Amazon warehouses are still facing the problem of overstocking.

" The more peak season it is, the more Amazon's warehouse lags behind ," a seller complained to Yine.com.

Last November , during the traditional peak sales season in Europe and the United States , a group of sellers were busy competing for sales and market share in order to win a cross-border decisive battle at the end of the year. On the other hand, it was also the stocking season, and shipping and listing were also tasks that could not be ignored.

But at this critical moment, Amazon warehouses were once again overwhelmed, and all of them were popular warehouses in the western United States . Many popular warehouses such as LAX9, ONT8, LGB8, SBD1, LAS1, SMF3, SCK4, GYR2, GYR3, VGT2, XLX7, etc. were postponed, cancelled, or even directly closed.

Many warehouses have a rejection rate of up to 90%. " It's hard to get an appointment, and I'm so anxious! If I can't get the products on the shelves in time, the loss will be huge. The ranking and traffic that I have worked so hard to accumulate will be lost in an instant . " Many sellers suffer from this.

At that time, MEM1 became a super popular warehouse for a while, but now it has been permanently closed indefinitely.

"Will it be restarted during the peak stocking season?" asked Yine.com.

The freight forwarder said, "It's hard to say. There may be a possibility of a warehouse explosion, but at present, it is difficult to make reservations at many Amazon warehouses, but four of them have been closed. It may really not open again."

Currently, Amazon’s warehouse problems are still concentrated on two aspects: difficulty in making appointments due to warehouse overflow and high rejection rate .

According to the direct delivery to Amazon:

SMF3 , LGB8: Liquidation , appointment is 2 weeks later ;

FTW1 , LAX9 , MDW2 , FWA4 , SBD1: liquidation , appointment in 3 weeks ;

IND9: Liquidation , appointment is in 3-4 weeks ;

MCO2 , ONT9: Liquidation , rejection rate up to 90% ;

XLX6 and XLX7: goods are required to be palletized, and the rejection rate of floor pallets is as high as 90% ;

JVL1: rejection rate increased by 80 % ;

Except for the above warehouses, other warehouses need to be booked about 2 weeks in advance.

On the other hand , the situation of Amazon bookings is relatively optimistic :

SCK4 , IND9 , FTW1 , TEB9 , CLT2 , IAH3 , FWA4 , BNA2 , ABE8 , etc. can be approved, and the approval of container dismantling appointment will be delayed by one week.

Meanwhile, U.S. port inspection rates are rising :  

Miami: There are many issues regarding cargo value, infringement, EPA, and DOT. The inspection station is full and the inspection time will be delayed by about 2 weeks .

Chicago: There are many issues regarding cargo value, CPS, and FDA , and the inspection risk will increase for containers transiting in Canada ;

Random inspections are being carried out in New York , Los Angeles , Oakland , Atlanta , Savannah , Norfolk, etc .; the number of inspections in Houston has increased, and the inspection time has been delayed by about 1 week ; the inspection stations in Detroit , Seattle , etc. are already full, and the inspection time has been delayed by about 2 weeks.

Freight forwarders say that undeclared items listed on commercial invoices will be strictly checked and face heavy fines ; undervalued items will also be checked because U.S. Customs and Border Protection has recently increased audits of FBA imports.

The above mentioned the problems of warehouse closure and warehouse explosion, but at the moment, what is most troubling for many sellers is the "warehouse configuration service fee" that Amazon began to implement on March 1.

The warehouse configuration fee took effect for 5 days, and a group of sellers complained madly

From multiple social media platforms, Yien.com learned that sellers have been complaining about this.

"Whether it is combining warehouses or dividing warehouses, I have not calculated the cost savings. If we combine warehouses, we have to pay, but my products are sold in large quantities, so combining warehouses is even less cost-effective. However, according to the divided warehouses recommended by Amazon, if the quantity of goods is not reached, won't it still be expensive?" a seller told Ennet.

" They lowered the tiny delivery fee, and raised a series of surcharges, removal fees, disposal fees, overage inventory fees, pre-processing service fees, and warehouse defect service fees . Who can help but praise Amazon for its business acumen? "

It has only been five days since the fee officially came into effect , and many sellers are already feeling the pinch.

Some sellers who sell large products said that the configuration fee for shipping 200+ products to one warehouse would be as high as US$1,000.

"According to Amazon's charging process, I feel that it is time for me to consider changing my career. Who can afford this kind of price increase? They are taking advantage of us every day. Are they raising prices? Temu next door is outselling us every minute. If I don't raise prices, I will lose all my profits . I am a philanthropist who sells goods at a loss and travels across the ocean to deliver goods to people in Europe and America. "

"To put it nicely, it is from the seller's perspective, 'seeking to optimize inventory management and improve operational efficiency', but it is clearly an attempt to fleece us in every possible way."

In addition, some sellers have reported that the Amazon system has not been comprehensively changed, some stores are still using the old system, and the collection of warehouse and configuration fees is still confusing.

Not only sellers, but also operations and other positions are quite dissatisfied with this. "Shipments in small quantities and multiple batches have increased the workload, and the efficiency is low and the workload is increased!"

Will prices rise or not? On April 1, Amazon’s low inventory level fees will take effect again , which will bring another wave of cost pressure.

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