On the one hand, YAY! We have crazy high unemployment and could really use the boost, and we hope it will bring other companies in.
On the other hand, I, like, buy my toilet paper from Amazon.com. Does this mean sales tax in South Carolina once they have a distribution center here? (Yes, I know about the theoretical use tax that nobody pays. I’m talking 'bout the real thing.)
We have one just east of Reno, NV and I don’t think I’ver ever paid sales tax and I live in Carson City.
Though I could be wrong as it’s been a while and I don’t really pay all that much attention.
The distro centers don’t create a nexus for sales tax purposes.
They aren’t owned & operated by Amazon proper. The warehouse ‘belongs’ to a separate company under the Amazon umbrella.
YMMV, and state sales tax authorities fight this position in court from time to time. Texas is in the process of doing so, IIRC.
In Fernley, yes. I think the way it goes is that they need a store front. So if Amazon hires cashiers and starts selling to the public in SC, then they must start charging tax, otherwise it’s not happening with just a warehouse. This may all go out the window if the government starts enforcing sales tax online, as has been threatened before.
Not now, but in the future, perhaps. Texas has caught on to Amazon’s shenanigans http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/taxes/texas-bills-amazon-269-million-sales-taxes/19687338/
We have a walmart distribution center even though we are 25 miles from the nearest major highway.
Unless your town’s economic development is focused on a “park” of distribution centers, you won’t be getting any more just because you have one. And while walmart hires lots of people relatively speaking here, I don’t know that these are great jobs. There are a couple of cheap chain hotels right next to it, so there is that for some truck drivers I guess, but not much else benefit to the town that I can tell.
We have some of the highest unemployment in the nation. If you want to come here and open up some jobs for people to pick through dog poop looking for diamond rings at minimum wage for three hours a week you’ll have a thousand people standing in line for days for the chance to apply. We’ll take what we can get.
BTW, I just drilled through various job listings around the country.
It looks like one of their Arizona warehouses starts entry-level staffers at $11.10 per hour.
Beats Wal-Mart and McDonald’s, I suppose.
Now, here’s a weird one:
I make a living selling on Amazon. I’m in Ohio.
Rather than having my own warehouse, I pack up my merchandise and ship it in to Amazon’s warehouses for fulfillment.
Here’s the program:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/seller/fba/fulfillment-by-amazon.html
Now, some product goes to Amazon’s FBA warehouses in Kentucky, some to Indiana, some to Pennsylvania.
From time to time, Amazon decides to ‘re-optimize’ its supply chain. It’ll lock down part of my inventory from being salable, then ship it from one of the existing warehouses to another of the existing warehouses.
In theory, they could ship my product to a brand new warehouse in another state.
Not only is there the question of whether or not my Ohio-based business has created a nexus in another state, but I may not even know what states my product is stored in without doing detailed, non-automated research in my seller account.
It’s not panacaea though. I assure you our unemployment is at least as high as yours. This is Grapes of Wrath country. People dream of the day our unemployment goes down below 15 % in a boom economy.
What happens with the distribution jobs is this:
1 - once the jobs are filled, they never turn over. people would be crazy to leave the best job they will ever have.
2 - the may will likely not be enough to lift any family up,others in the household will still have to work (in jobs that don’t exist)
3 - the multiplier effect on jobs is small, as the center is pretty self-contained. a few past food restaurants and hotels for truck drivers maybe is all there will be.
4 - your town will be sort of like a “company town” at the whim of amazon’s needs and demands. Amazon will give back to local food banks and other charities when asked, but that’s about it.
In short, one distribution center is not going to turn a town around. Education of kids will not increase, property values will not increase - because the jobs don’t turn over, there will be none wanting to move there to work there - also, no entrepreneurship will occur as people who have the jobs will not want to risk leaving them. and even if 2000 lids grow up with their parents working there, the kids themselves wil not be able to aspire to jobs there - unlike a mine, the center will not expand and will become increasingly automated over time limiting jobs growth.