Coronavirus Spurs Amazon to Temporarily Halt CD, Vinyl Orders Amid Ongoing Pandemic Fears

The ongoing coronavirus crisis has affected numerous facets of society already. In response to the crisis, many have been trying to stock up on necessary household goods and cleaning supplies on Amazon. Because of the increased need for those products, Amazon has noted that they will be prioritizing them and will be temporarily halting orders for goods such as CDs and vinyl into their warehouses, as Pitchfork noted. This postponement will reportedly last until at least April 5.

According to Variety, this postponement will not affect goods that are already in Amazon warehouses, as products already in their locations will still be available for purchase. However, when it comes to replenishing the stock of those products, that will have to wait a few weeks or, possibly, months. Cheryl Pawelski, the Grammy-winning co-founder of Omnivore Records, told Variety that she expects that this postponement will have a big effect on record labels.

"Considering Amazon is the biggest record retailer in the world, I have to imagine that all record labels will take a hit," Pawelski said, adding that with "brick and mortar retail under duress at this time as well, I can't say that the outlook is good."

This news about halting CD and vinyl orders comes shortly after it was reported that these changes would go into effect for Amazon warehouses across the country.

"We are seeing increased online shopping, and as a result some products such as household staples and medical supplies are out of stock," Amazon said in a statement to third-party sellers this week. "With this in mind, we are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and deliver these products to customers. For products other than these, we have temporarily disabled shipment creation."

Amazon's statement detailed that these changes would go into effect immediately and that it would run through April 5. They added that "we will let you know once we resume regular operations. Shipments created before today will be received at fulfillment centers."

The company also detailed that they plan to hire 100,000 new employees for fulfillment centers across the country in order to help meet these increased demands.

"We understand this is a change to your business, and we did not take this decision lightly," Amazon's message read. "We appreciate your understanding as we prioritize the above products for our customers. Thank you for your patience, and for participating in FBA."