Portents: "Amazon to Close 4 of its 5 US Call Centers, Shifts to Work-from-Home, after Closing 44 Warehouses, Halting Construction on 7 Office Towers " (AMZN)

From Wolf Street, September 29: 

The giant’s footprint reduction to cut costs sinks Commercial Real Estate.

Amazon, which booked net losses in Q1 and Q2 totaling nearly $6 billion and whose shares are down 38% from their high in July last year, is undertaking large-scale efforts to cut costs – including commercial real estate costs. It is closing or cancelling 44 warehouses across the US; it’s halting construction on six office towers, and won’t start construction on a seventh. And now it emerges that it plans to close four of its five call centers in the US and switch those customer service representatives to working from home.

Amazon currently operates five call centers in the US. Kennewick, WA; Lexington, KY; Phoenix, AZ; Huntington, WV; and Houston, TX. It plans to close four of them. Either the Houston or the Huntington facility will likely remain open, according to Bloomberg, citing a source.

Amazon confirmed to Bloomberg that the call center work will be shifted to work from home. Even before the pandemic, it already allowed some call center workers to work from home.

“We’re offering additional members of our customer service team the increased flexibility that comes with working virtually,” an Amazon spokesman told Bloomberg. “We’re working with employees to make sure their transition is seamless while continuing to prioritize best-in-class support for customers.”....

....MUCH MORE

Previously:
July 30
ICYMI: Amazon Has Shrunk Its Payroll By 100,000 (AMZN; GOOG)
May 23
Logistics/Warehouses: "Amazon Seeks To Offload Up To 10 Million Square Feet Of Warehouse Space" (AMZN)

....Well, it was a good run.

Starting in June 2019 until, huh, February. 

But there was already something in the air by last May:

Logistics: "Amazon is fuelling North America's worst warehouse shortage....and it's right here in Canada"
There were no stories like this when we began pitching warehousing and cold storage. It may be time to exit the portfolio investments and, if your mandate says you have to have commercial exposure, consider owning the cash flow directly. Always a tricky transition though..

Probably the high point: Dec. 13, 2020:

Real Estate: "Logistics market is hot, but is a bubble forming?"
It's always nice to see a sector you've been babbling about for a couple years finally referred to as a bubble.
That post has some of our previous links, there are many, many more; use the 'search blog' box if interested.

And by December 2021:

Big Money Still Buying Warehouse Assets: Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Enters Into $1.1 Billion J.V.
We on the other hand got bored after pitching them for three years and moved on to something shiny - Look, an NFT!

So, once again, short attention span investing proves to have some risk management qualities.

And if you know anyone looking for an NFT or twenty, I know where you can get your hands on some.

No Bored Apes though, a pox on the Bored Ape crowd.