Amazon adding 100,000 to US, Canada staff

Amazon.com Inc, the world’s largest online retailer, said it is hiring another 100,000 workers in the US and Canada to keep up with a surge in online shopping created by COVID-19 social-distancing curbs and lockdowns.

The company said that the jobs would be full- and part-time positions across its operations network, including its warehouses, delivery stations and other sites as it rolls out 100 new warehouse and operations sites.

Pay begins at $15 per hour with benefits. It is also offering sign-up bonuses up to $1,000 in some cities.

Amazon is holding a virtual career day Wednesday for its 33,000 job openings in corporate and tech roles. Employees hired for the corporate jobs will receive an average compensation package of $150,000, including salary, stock and benefits.

Delta Airlines Inc said Monday it will use its frequent-flier program to raise $6.5 billion in cash to weather the pandemic.

The carrier will issue a private notes offering and enter a termloan facility backed by the SkyMiles program. While Delta has raised $16.5 billion since the start of the pandemic, the carrier is still losing about $27 million a day, CFO Paul Jacobson said last week.

United Airlines Holdings Inc in July raised $6.8 billion backed by its MileagePlus program, and Spirit Airlines said earlier this month it would raise $850 million backed by its loyalty programs.

Carriers received $25 billion in government funds under the Cares Act, a broad stimulus package passed by Congress in March, to help them keep their workers employed through the summer.

But that money will run out at the end of this month, and negotiations for a new pandemic-relief package that could include more assistance for airlines have stalled in Congress.

But on Monday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC there are areas of the economy that still need support and that fear over adding to the national debt shouldn’t prevent Congress from passing another stimulus bill.

Mnuchin reiterated that he and President Donald Trump both favor more support for the economy, and he singled out hotels, travel, small businesses and restaurants as sectors that will likely need more government help.

Hershey Co said it is taking steps to ensure that the pandemic doesn’t take a toll on its sales of candy for Halloween in the US.

The chocolate maker said Monday that it has worked with public health experts and retailers to create a website to offer advice on how to trick-or-treat safely in different parts of the country, depending on the intensity of local coronavirus transmission.

The company said Halloween typically drives one-tenth of its $8 billion in annual sales. US candy sales during last year’s Halloween season totaled $4.6 billion, making it the biggest holiday for candy, according to the National Confectioners Association.

Health officials in Los Angeles County last week banned Halloween carnivals and haunted houses and advised against trick-or-treating because of concerns over the spread of the virus.

In New York, organizers last week canceled the annual Greenwich Village Halloween parade that typically draws more than 50,000 marchers and a much larger crowd.

Also in New York, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will not unfold on the city’s streets for the first time in its 90-year history.

The parade is being “reinvented” this year with a televised and online version, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday.