Amazon Sellers React to News of Fire at FBA Warehouse

by: iheartjacksparrow

If inventory is damaged, there really only two things you can do: (1) throw it out: or (2) sell it as damaged at a cheap price. Hopefully none of the merchandise stored there was impacted in any way.  

by: eBankrupted

If the smoke wasn't thick enough to set off the sprinklers, then it shouldn't smell like smoke in a 26' ceiling warehouse. If the sprinklers tripped, it will be a disaster.

by: comet

The scenario IF this was a warehouse owned by EBAY:::

Fire breaks out with possibly damaging smoke and soot and odor.

Questions would not be answered and no public announcement would be made; sellers would not know that their items might have been damaged

Items shipped without inspection

Item received by buyer and reported as DAMAGED to ebay

Ebay /Paypal seize payment and record DEFECTS on sellers account

Seller attempts to contact ebay;  wait time is reported to be 36 Hours Hold on phone

When seller finally reaches ebay 4 Days later the non English speaking CSR initially tells him/her Oh yes we are so sorry for your concern and ebay will certainly make this right for you I will pass you on to my Suprervisor Hold please

After a further 3 Hours on Hold the sellers is told by non-English speaking CSR #2 that Oh we are so sorry for your problem you have been loyal ebay user since 1492 please let me pass you to the Account Specialist

After a further 4 Hours on Hold seller speaks to CSR #3 an English speaking person who informs seller that there will be NO revision of any feedback; multiple DEFECTS have been recorded ; that the seller should have KNOWN that ebays warehouses were inherently unsafe and they should have chosen a more reliable system and that there will now be a 30% premium charged against a seller who has a CASE opened for these ridiculous reasons and then the CSR will mention that only PART of the sellers 100,001 Feedbacks were as a seller and therefore all of their transactions are suspect and then they will hang up.

And then the sellers head exploded.  

by: Ming the Merciless

Liability would appear to be the principle issue. Odds are that Amazon has protected itself by making the seller responsible and liable for replacing merchandise damaged or lost in their fulfillment centers.

I would love to be proven wrong, but Amazon is rapidly becoming as big a weasel as ebafia.

by: Deltamaster

I do not know the layout of the Murfreesboro facility but if it is anything like the Campbellsville facility the compactor in question is located on the receiving dock near one of the loading bay doors.

It is far from the merchandise storage areas but near the receiving area where the shipping cartons are opened and the merchandise is removed and scanned in to the database.

The facility here is HUGE and there are actually three distinctive sections separated by concrete block walls so there is little concern for smoke damage for such a small fire.  If they were quick and the employees opened the loading bay doors then the smoke would have likely gone outside more than inside.

Add to that the fact that there are large exhaust and air movement fans in the facility the smoke particulates would have likely dissipated throughout and after a few days would not smell any different than the regular smell of the facility.

Likely very little smoke damage and the water damage would have been isolated to the compactor and equipment in close proximity.

Maybe some merchandise on the receiving line might have been effected.

If the employees were back at work a few hours after the fire then it is likely to have been very minor, especially considering they cleared them to remain in the break-room during the extinguishing process.

I would venture to guess there is little to no concern for merchandise damage excepting for what was on the receiving line at the time which may have some smoke smell.

Chances are that supervisory and receiving staff inspected the merchandise more carefully afterward and set questionable items aside for further inspection and evaluation.

As fort he merchandise in the Mods... I would venture to guess they were unaffected as it seems the sprinkler system was not activated plant-wide if at all.

by: Anonymous Annie

I'm glad that nobody was hurt.

by: MADandCracked

Thank you Deltamaster! Now I don't have to type all that. :) I work at CHA1. It sounds like the same setup as Campbellsville and (more than likely) Murfreesboro.  

by: MADandCracked

Oh, and I have no doubt in my mind that Amazon will not send out anything that smells of smoke to customers if any such items exist.

by: Shop and Ship

Congrats to the Murphreesboro FD for putting out the dumpster fire without the local police shooting any civilians.  

by: Ina

Thanks all, and see update above, Amazon says inventory was not impacted.