The Amazon returns centre in Sereď (source: TASR)
Even though there is no Slovak version of the Amazon shopping website and this US online retailer does not even ship its latest devices like the portable bluetooth speaker Alexa to Slovakia, it has selected the rather small Slovak town of Sereď for its largest and one of its most technologically advanced returns centre. It is already in operation with the plan of processing about 100,000 items a day week during the peak season.
Amazon took just about 10 months to build, equip and open the centre. It is comfortably accessible from the D1 highway and R1 dual carriageway, just about 60 km from Bratislava. The centre processes returned items, either those whose delivery failed, or those returned by customers. The company employs more than 1,000 people and continues hiring while its representatives declined to specify the target employment.
“Firstly we want to respond to the real needs of our clients and development of the market,” said Matt Greene, general manager of the centre in Sereď while stressing the consumer-oriented approach at Amazon.
For now employees are working in two 10-hour shifts four days in a week while the more than 60,000 square metre centre is in operation all seven weekdays. The daily shift starts at 7:10 and the night one at 18:00. The employees have three breaks during a shift: one 30-minute break for lunch and two 15-minute breaks. These are announced with a gong.
