Amazon limits shipments to warehouses

Amazon, in an attempt to fill its warehouses with toilet paper, hand sanitizer and other items in high demand, said Tuesday it will limit what suppliers can send to its warehouses for the next three weeks.

Among the items suppliers and third-party sellers can ship to Amazon include canned beans, diapers, dog food, disinfecting wipes, medical supplies and household goods. Items like jeans, phone cases and other non-essentials will not be allowed.

The new restrictions are another sign of how much pressure Amazon’s delivery network is facing as more people stay home and shop online as the coronavirus spreads.

Meanwhile, Amazon says it needs to hire 100,000 people across the U.S. to keep up with a crush of orders.

The online retailer said it will also temporarily raise pay by $2 an hour through the end of April for hourly employees. That includes workers at its warehouses, delivery centers and Whole Foods grocery stores, all of whom make at least $15 an hour.

Some 18% of adults reported they had been laid off or that their work hours had been cut, a new poll found.

The proportion affected grew for lower-income households, with 25% of those making less than $50,000 a year reporting that they had been let go or had their hours reduced, according to a survey released by NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist of 835 working adults in the contiguous United States.

The poll was conducted Friday and Saturday, just after stocks began their steep plunge and normal life started grinding to a halt, with schools and places of worship closing, concerts and conferences being canceled and sports leagues suspending their seasons.

The same poll found that about 56% of Americans considered the coronavirus outbreak a “real threat,” while 38% said it was “blown out of proportion.”