"Maybe Lord Voldemort put a spell on Amazon.Com Inc on Tuesday," Reuters suggested in reporting on the mysterious case of disappearing buy buttons in the company's Kindle e-book store yesterday, which also happened to be opening day for selling Harry Potter e-books.
The buttons vanished for several hours, replaced by larger green buttons that said: "This title is not available for customers from: United States." Reuters noted that a forum post from Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing unit said it was a "website issue" affecting the buy box for Kindle books and noted that it should be resolved "shortly." All was well again by 6 p.m.
---
Amazon plans to open a new distribution center in southern Indiana as part of a $150-million expansion, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported. The new location in Jeffersonville will be the company's fifth warehouse in the state. An agreement was reached in January between state officials and Amazon under which the online retailer will begin collecting Indiana's 7% sales tax from customers in the state in 2014.
"We're grateful to state officials for their business-friendly approach, which supports our continued expansion in Indiana," said Dave Clark, Amazon's v-p of global customer fulfillment.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. is providing Amazon up to $2 million in performance-based tax credits and up to $300,000 in training grants based on the company's job-creation plans, according to the Business Journal. River Ridge Development Authority has also approved additional property-tax abatements and will support infrastructure improvements.
---
Amazon's distribution center in Charleston, Tenn., has begun work "to add about 150,000 cubic feet of storage as it tries to meet growing demand at its massive facility," the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported, noting that the expansion of the 1.2 million-square-foot facility will result in the addition of 100 full-time positions, converted from seasonal jobs. The warehouse currently employs about 450 people full-time.
"It's all based on customer demand," said Michael Thomas, the center's general manager.
Work is also under way at Amazon's Chattanooga facility, which is adding to an existing mezzanine and boosting floor space. The Times Free Press noted that the online retailer will have five distribution centers in Tennessee by the time it finishes building two more this year.
