Whole Foods store manager calls Prime workers "vultures" who "come in and pick every department clean."
Tensions are mounting between Whole Foods employees and the workers who pick and pack Amazon's Prime Now online orders, according to interviews with seven Whole Foods employees.
The Whole Foods employees said they were suffering from understaffing and struggling to keep shelves stocked as a growing number of Amazon Prime workers canvass stores to fill online orders.
A manager at a Whole Foods store in the Northeast called Prime workers "vultures" who "come in and pick every department clean."
One Whole Foods store is so busy with Prime orders that it has workers packing and storing groceries in a nearby parking garage, an employee of the store said.
A Whole Foods representative said, "Online grocery delivery demand experienced unprecedented growth this year, and as we evolve our offerings in real-time, we are constantly evaluating how we can address challenges and work more efficiently."
Amazon Prime Now grocery orders are surging, and some Whole Foods employees say it's causing problems in stores.
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Amazon's online grocery business is booming, and some Whole Foods employees say it's causing a crush of problems in stores.
Workers who fill Amazon Prime Now orders — which are purchased online for delivery or pickup from Whole Foods stores — are in some cases clogging aisles, ignoring virus protocols, and exacerbating severe understaffing, according to interviews with seven Whole Foods employees in six states, including three managers. All the employees except one requested anonymity to protect their jobs.
A manager at a Whole Foods store in the Northeast called Prime workers "vultures" who "come in and pick every department clean" before employees can fully restock empty shelves from the previous day.
"The Prime picking starts at 6 a.m. They are picking stuff off the shelves from every department, and there is no one to refill it," the manager said, adding that his store suffered from understaffing. "We have pallets of groceries just sitting in the aisles, and they are desperate to get it on the shelves."
When Amazon Prime employees — or shoppers, as the company calls them — can't find a specific item, they must ask a Whole Foods employee for help. If the item is out of stock, the Prime shopper must scan a QR code belonging to the Whole Foods employee to continue working, employees said.
"What that has led to is already chronically understaffed teams having to stop what they are doing to help assist a Prime shopper to find this item and give them the code," the Whole Foods manager said.
This QR-scanning process is one of the most frustrating parts of the Prime shopping program, workers said.
"We were bombarded with these people asking us questions when we were trying to do our own jobs," said Warren Dearman, who recently left his job at a Whole Foods store in Brooklyn, New York, in part over issues with Amazon Prime shoppers.
Prime shoppers are also unhappy with the QR-scanning requirement, said one Amazon shopper in Weehawken, New Jersey.
He said that requiring the scans was a helpful training tool for new shoppers. "But for seasoned employees, it's overkill," he said. "You are annoying someone else because of a stock problem."
An employee of a Philadelphia Whole Foods store said Prime shoppers would crowd around her when she's trying to stock shelves.
"I'm basically just a human QR code," she said. "I'm trying to do my job, and I have to stop every five minutes to help a Prime shopper and then have them scan my QR code. Sometimes there are so many of them that a line forms behind me to scan my QR code."
The program's success has also made it hard to keep shelves full, she said.
"I could put out the blueberries, and 10 minutes later they are gone because the Prime shoppers have bought them all," she said.
In response to this story, a Whole Foods representative cited unprecedented growth in demand for online grocery services. The representative also highlighted the company's tests of "dark" stores, which are closed to the public and function only to fill online orders. Whole Foods recently opened its first permanent online-only store in Brooklyn.
"Online grocery delivery demand experienced unprecedented growth this year, and as we evolve our offerings in real-time, we are constantly evaluating how we can address challenges and work more efficiently," the Whole Foods representative said. "We're proud of the ways our teams are adapting to improve our shopping methods and the overall ordering experience."
