Amazon to grow total Australian fulfilment centre footprint to six by late 2021 - ZDNet

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Amazon Australia has announced plans to open a second fulfilment centre in Melbourne, Victoria late next year.

With construction in Ravenhall, Melbourne already underway, the new centre, according to the global e-commerce giant, will more than double the company's footprint in Victoria. 

"Our investment in this new Melbourne fulfilment centre will benefit customers around Victoria, while creating hundreds of jobs for Melbournians in a safe work environment, with competitive pay at a time when they are needed most," Amazon Australia director of operations Craig Fuller said.

"This fulfilment centre will also provide additional capacity for Victorian-based small and medium-sized businesses who utilise the Fulfilment By Amazon service to benefit from our expanded capability and seamlessly serve customers across the country."

When completed, the new centre will be 37,000 square metres, with capacity to house up to six million items from its online store.

It will bring the total number of Amazon fulfilment centres in Australia to six. The e-commerce giant opened its first Australian fulfilment centre in Melbourne in December 2017, followed by centres in Sydney and Perth in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

In June, Amazon also announced it would be opening a fulfilment warehouse in Brisbane and another in Sydney.

See also: Amazon announces four new projects to make its data centers greener

A report by the ABC identified that employees of Amazon Australia are constantly being monitored and timed to fulfil orders, with one describing the working conditions as being so extreme it made them feel "dehumanised". 

"I feel like they resent the fact that I'm not a robot and that I'm made of flesh and bone," the person identified as Amazonian One said. 

Meanwhile, David Gallagher, who is on workers' compensation, was denied unpaid leave twice over a course of a month by Amazon, as reported by ZDNet's sister publication, CNET. He was only granted leave once CNET had contacted Amazon.

Last year, the company dismissed claims that its warehouses would be fully automated any time soon.

Amazon robotics fulfilment director Scott Anderson told reporters that there was a "misconception" that the e-commerce giant would be able to run fully robotic warehouses soon.

"In the current form, the technology is very limited," Anderson said. "The technology is very far from the fully automated workstation that we would need."

Meanwhile, earlier this month, Transport Workers Union accused Amazon of underpaying Amazon Flex drivers, alleging that rates paid are "well under Australia's minimum wage" when costs such as insurance, petrol, and maintenance are taken into account.

Amazon Flex was launched in Australia at the start of the year. At the time, Amazon Australia boasted it would give individuals the chance to earn money while delivering Amazon packages to customers.

Much like Uber, individuals are required to use their own vehicles, and at a minimum, are required to have personal car insurance and compulsory third-party personal injury.

While it is unclear how much individual contractors earn or whether Amazon will take a share of those earnings, an Amazon Australia spokesperson has described the allegations as "untrue and unfounded", saying that delivery partners are paid a "very competitive" rate.

"We pay delivery partners quickly and provide them with transparency and certainty, as they know the minimum amount they will be paid for a delivery block in advance. Our delivery partners tell us they enjoy the flexibility they have to schedule delivery blocks around their existing commitments, helping them to make extra money. When the overall payments for the services are taken into account, our pricing structure meets or exceeds minimum industry rates," the spokesperson told ZDNet.  

Related Coverage

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The online retailer is giving its Australian customers the chance to pick-up their parcels from self-service lockers or from the counter of a partner retailer.

Woolworths to splash AU$780 million on two new automated distribution centres

Flagging that it will lead to the closure of some existing facilities and redundancies.

eStore Logistics sinks AU$40 million to roll out robotic-powered fulfilment centres

Staff will be on-site to pack products for shipment.

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Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost are married - Page Six

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Actress Scarlett Johansson and “Saturday Night Live” co-head writer Colin Jost have officially tied the knot.

The pair exchanged vows in a small ceremony surrounded by loved ones over the weekend, Meals on Wheels America announced on Instagram on Thursday.

“We’re thrilled to break the news that Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost were married over the weekend in an intimate ceremony with their immediate family and love ones, following COVID-19 safety precautions as directed by the CDC,” the post stated.

The organization explained that it was the newlyweds’ wish to use their wedding for a good cause.

“Their wedding wish is to help make a difference for vulnerable older adults during this difficult time by supporting @mealsonwheelsamerica,” the statement said, adding, “Please consider donating to celebrate the happy couple by clicking the link in our bio.”

Johansson, 35, and Jost, 38, have been linked since May 2017 after they were spotted kissing following her appearance on “SNL.”

That December, they took their relationship public when they attended the American Museum of Natural History Gala together.

The couple stayed under the radar, only rarely popping up at events together, but confirmed they were engaged in May 2019.

Page Six previously reported that Jost gave the “Avengers: Endgame” star an enormous 11-carat engagement ring worth an estimated $400,000.

We also reported that they celebrated their engagement with a romantic dinner at Blue Hill At Stone Barns.

Jost joked last year about his thoughts on marriage at a Hamptons benefit, telling the crowd, “I was so scared of marriage for so long because every time I talked to someone who just got married, or was about to get married, is like, ‘Oh my God, you got to do it … What could go wrong?’ Then you talk to someone who’s been married for five years, and they’re like, ‘Don’t rush into it … you have your whole life ahead of you. Don’t have kids. They’re the worst.’ ”

Clearly he’s not afraid anymore.

This will be Jost’s first marriage and Johansson’s third.

She previously wed Ryan Reynolds in 2008, before the duo called it quits in 2010.

Johansson later married French journalist Romain Dauriac in 2014, following the birth of their daughter, Rose. The two finalized their divorce in September 2017.

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After 60 years, time to demo Yorba Linda’s old library building - OCRegister

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Demolition of Yorba Linda’s public library – located for 60 years near the Imperial Highway and Lemon Drive intersection – is scheduled to be completed in December, with the contractor required to provide a construction-ready site for an In-N-Out Burger restaurant.

Cost is estimated at $374,000, or $430,000 with a standard 15% contingency. Anaheim-based AMPCO Contracting won the contract after submitting the lowest of seven bids. The firm previously completed the $4.2 million site demolition for the 80-acre Anaheim Concourse.

The project will have minor traffic impacts to the surrounding area during demolition, Assistant City Engineer Rick Yee said in an Oct. 6 report. “Impacts are due to the temporary lane closures during the required time frame to access utility services in the street.”

Work is to be scheduled so there will be no lane closures before 8:30 a.m. or after 3:30 p.m., especially on busy Imperial Highway, which will have all traffic lanes open during non-working hours. Demolition is scheduled to be completed in 35 working days.

Interestingly, the city’s $610,000 project estimate was higher than five of the bids, which ranged to a high of $702,000. The city’s estimate presumed the presence of hazardous materials that would have required a higher cost for treatment and disposal.

A final parcel map for the 1.5-acre, 18181 Imperial Highway location was approved by City Council members at a recent meeting. The map consolidates the site’s 21 lots into a single lot to accommodate the future sale of the property to In-N-Out Burger.

A purchase agreement between the city and In-N-Out “is currently in place, with escrow set to close at the end of the year,” Yee said in a September report to the council. The city sold the land in 2018 to In-N-Out for some $3.5 million to help pay for a new two-story, 45,000-square-foot library on Lakeview Avenue.

The near-4,000-square-foot restaurant will have a 29-car capacity drive-thru lane, with a camera system to alert managers to potential parking lot problems. Plans also call for 70 seats each for indoor and outside dining.

Groundbreaking for the library site occurred in 1959, with the dedication in 1960, after the then-existing library district voters passed an $80,000 bond issue on a 280 to 39 vote. An expansion to a three-level structure came in 1971 under a $585,000 bond approved 456-418.

A final $3.7 million remodel was completed in 1992. The first library opened in 1913 in the Yorba Linda School District building on School Street and moved to a Valencia Street and Lemon Drive location in 1917, then to an Olinda Street building in the 1920s.

The Yorba Linda Library District was formed in 1914, with trustees elected by district voters until 1985, when the trustees approved a merger with the city. Library income is still derived from the property tax revenue established under the old library district.

Jim Drummond is a longtime Yorba Linda resident. He gives his opinion on local issues weekly. Send e-mail to jimdrummond@hotmail.com.

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Old Morgan Demo Underway - Zip06.com

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By Eric O’Connell/Zip06.com • 10/29/2020 12:22 p.m. EST • Last Updated 10/29/2020 12:23 p.m.

The last week of October was a bittersweet for members of the Clinton community who graduated or worked at the Old Morgan School. The week signaled the beginning of the demolition of the school building and the true start of the property’s transformation into the Indian River Landing development.

Since it first opened its doors in 1951 and until the last class crossed the stage on graduation 65 years later in June 2016, thousands of students have passed through the halls of the former location of the Morgan School at 27 Killingworth Turnpike. The old school had been a familiar sight for generations of Clinton families through good times and bad as the town saw its population expand enormously, the Clinton Crossing outlets arrive across the street, and the Unilever headquarters down the road eventually close its doors.

The old building will soon be a distant memory as the demolition of the property began during the last week of October. At press time much of the building still stands but soon the building will be completely gone as the site’s current owner, Greylock Property Group, begins construction on the Indian River Landing mixed use development.

The demolition of the old Morgan School is something that has been on the radar since 2012 when residents narrowly approved the town’s purchase of land on Route 81 to begin building the current Morgan School.

Originally the old school was set to be demolished in the summer of 2016, however that step was delayed and then in August 2017 the original buyer of the property terminated his purchase agreement with the town due to problems with finances and obtaining permits.

In late 2018 the town announced that after a long vetting process Greylock had been selected as the new potential buyer of the property. Clinton residents then approved the conditional $2.2 million sale to Greylock in December 2018 and the sale was officially closed on Oct. 5, 2020 after nearly two years of due diligence and obtaining needed permits by the developer.

While there has been palpable excitement amongst residents over the budding development ever since the town announced the sale of the old school property to Greylock was official, some educators and former graduates of The Morgan School were still sad to see the old building go.

Superintendent of School Maryann O’Donnell called the situation “bittersweet” and added, “For me, I am happy to see the progress in development for the town, even though driving by and seeing the work beginning definitely generates a sense of sadness and fondness for the many shared memories, events, and celebrations that occurred in that building over the years.”

Attendees of the old school were known to make fun of some of the ways the building showed its age, such as its notoriously leaky roof or the confusing layout thanks to several new expansions over the years. Still, there are plenty people who can recall the charm of the building despite its flaws.

Jane Scully Welch is a graduate of The Morgan School Class of 1965 and is currently the president of the Morgan Alumni Association. Through a quirk of fate she actually spent six years in The Morgan School because the town’s middle school was still under construction. The extra years in the building led to her having many lasting memories of the school from her early teens until graduation day, whether it be of the new additions built to the school or of her time spent playing field hockey on the field that now hosts the construction equipment needed for demolition.

“Most of my memories are of the teachers, McKiernan, Dowie, Mr. Drew, Joanne Labbadia, Mrs. Petrini, Mr. Joel, Benny Brown, and of course my classmates. We were a great group, no shining stars, just good people,” said Scully Welch.

Scully Welch said she is proud to be a graduate of The Morgan School as well as its history, but she said she understood the need to build the current Morgan School and is excited about the new development.

“I think a new school was needed, my Morgan was showing its age, but gosh I have grand memories of it. I would love one of the streets within the development to be called The Morgan Way. And I just want something there, to remind everyone that once, a wonderful schoolhouse stood there,” Scully Welch said.

Perhaps the person with the best view of the changes occurring on the property is Morgan Class of 2005 graduate Sarah Borgnis-Tobin, the Adult Programing Coordinator at Henry Carter Hull Library. Contacted on Oct. 27, by the Harbor News, Borgnis-Tobin mentioned that her desk faces the school where she could see active demolition work occurring.

Like others familiar with the building, Borgnis-Tobin also had mixed feelings about seeing the building torn into.

“As I watch the demolition, I feel a mixture of excitement and nostalgia, as I imagine many other graduates of the old Morgan School do. We’re all witnesses to an important part of Clinton’s story. I also feel grateful to see the town moving forward and making progress, thanks to past and present leadership,” Borgnis-Tobin said.

Borgnis-Tobin told the Harbor News she was specifically able to see the construction crews starting their demolition on the auditorium of the old school, which was something that stuck a chord with her.

“Seeing the auditorium demo in particular stirs up memories of plays, concerts, awards ceremonies, assemblies. It’s the heart of a school and a place we all remember. Lots of proud parents watched their kids overcome stage fright and find life-long passions in that room thanks to our educators, and in particular teachers of the arts. I’m thrilled that the new school has such a beautiful facility for hosting similar events, and hopeful that we’ll all be able to gather there again soon,” said Borgnis-Tobin.

The demolition of the old school signals the true start of construction of Indian River Landing. When built to completion, the 38-acre property will where the former school stood school will be filled with multiple buildings that will consist of retail, restaurants, and a hotel in addition to an already announced Big Y and Starbucks. The development will also include walking trails and a park area for recreation uses. A portion of the development is estimated to be open by the end of 2021.

Though the old school will soon be gone for good, for a lucky few a physical reminder of the old school will still live on even after the new development is open. As a favor to the graduates of the old school, on Oct. 13 the town announced that 250 bricks from the old school were available to residents for free as keepsakes. On Oct. 16, the town announced that all 250 bricks were already claimed.

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Why Six-Time Champion Scott Dixon Chose IndyCar over F1 - Autoweek

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Scott Dixon's 2020 IndyCar championship pulled him to within one title of A.J. Foyt's major open-wheel series record of seven.

Dixon, 40, is the the first IndyCar driver age 40 or older since Nigel Mansell to win the IndyCar title.

Dixon had a brush with Formula 1 in 2003 when the Williams team came calling for a test session.

---

Reality is always stranger than fiction.

Think about it. No one would buy the premise of the reality of 2020 as a movie plot. Even just in terms of the NTT IndyCar Series season, it’s hard to imagine.

“It was a strange year, emotionally,” said Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon. “The unknown was the biggest issue.”

Just this past March, all the teams arrived in St. Petersburg, Florida, mentally and physically prepared to start the 2020 season and race that coming Sunday, only to find themselves on an airplane ride home on Friday with a world pandemic putting everything in question.

“You start to get the scale of it and it puts things in perspective. And not just for me, but the mechanics, the team workers,” Dixon told Autoweek, “Are we going to have a championship this year? Are we going to have a race this year? Are we going to have a job this year?”

And yet, IndyCar found a way to pull off a 14-race season, starting in June and finishing this past weekend at the place it all started, in St. Petersburg. And 19-year veteran of the sport Scott Dixon won four races and his sixth IndyCar title. He also won titles in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, and 2018.

“It was an emotional ride for us all. Trust me, it’s a year none of us are going to forget, but for me even more so,” Dixon said. "Winning the championship is huge any year, but this year more so. This one feels extremely special for sure.”

Chris Owens

In such a tumultuous year, with so many unknowns and so many last-minute changes, all the IndyCar drivers had to quickly adapt. There were weekend doubleheaders, two-day race weekends, even a one-day race weekend. I mean, the Indianapolis 500 happened in August, for crying out loud.

And that, Dixon admits, made it more of a challenge for the rookies.

“They had it rough this year because there was no track time,” Dixon said. “These compressed weekends, you know, an hour practice in an Indy car works out to maybe 20-25 laps, it’s not a lot of time. And we don’t have a lot of off-season testing now, either.

“It probably favored the veterans a little bit, just because you didn’t need the track time as much, you were a little bit better prepared from that standpoint.”

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Dixon started this year extremely strong, winning the first three races of the truncated season at Texas Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, and then Road America, giving him a solid lead of the championship, but then things got tougher.

“Leading the championship from the start to the finish. And having a 117-point lead, and then there was a fair bit of bleeding going on at one point,” Dixon said. “We had to try and stop the bleeding.”

Then Dixon added, “You didn’t want to be one of those stats.”

But now Dixon is another stat, as he’s won more Indy car championships than anyone in history, save for A.J. Foyt. And the Kiwi driver is only behind Foyt and Mario Andretti for all-time race wins. Dixon turned 40 this year. When he started in IndyCar in 2001, he raced Bryan Herta, now he’s racing Herta’s son, Colton.

Scott Dixon’s 2008 Indianapolis 500 win

Jamie SquireGetty Images

When you start to race against the sons of guys you raced against earlier in your career, isn't it time to think about retiring?

“No, definitely not,” Dixon said. "Earlier, when you look at championships, people were already talking about seven, which seems so far away when you have five, especially with how tough the competition is. But now seven is a lot more achievable now that we have six. And it’s the same with the race wins. But, honestly, I just love to race.”

“I’m so lucky, I’m so privileged,” Dixon said. “I get to do what I love. I get to work with the best in the business. I have such a great relationship with Chip (Ganassi) and Mike (Hull) and everyone on the team. The passion is still there, the fire burns hot, maybe one day it will end, it has to, but not right now.”

And Dixon doesn’t seem to have any particular interest in chasing down statistics. Sure, he’s aware that Andretti has 52 race wins and that he currently has 50. But he summed it up this way, “I treat it purely just as the next race. If we can win the next race, then the rest of it starts to take care of itself."

“Goal No. 1 is to try to win St Pete in 2021.”

But 40 can be a weird age for a racer. One has to go back to 1993 to find the last time a 40-year-old driver (Nigel Mansell) won the IndyCar championship.

Dixon nearly took a different path.

After winning his first IndyCar championship in 2003, Dixon tested the Williams F1 car. Dixon's manager Stefan Johansson thinks that if Dixon had tried F1, he’d been a World Champion.

“My wife asks me that, occasionally, ‘Are you sad that you didn’t chase the F1 thing more?’ No, not really.” Dixon said, “There’s no reflection on did we make a bad choice or anything like that. I think we made the best choice, absolutely. There’s no denying that.”

His first opportunity in Formula 1, however, would’ve been a testing role, not racing. And Dixon was quite succinct about it. “We just won the championship. Do you go to Formula 1 and be a test driver and be lost forever, or do you continue on racing?”

Scott Dixon racing at Road America in Wisconsin

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Johansson, a former Formula 1 and Sports car veteran himself, also thinks very highly of Dixon’s ability to manage fuel in a race car. And, Dixon’s response revealed what truly makes him a successful driver and champion.

“One thing is the technique (of saving fuel in a race) and, maybe, the (other thing is the) will to learn about it,” Dixon said, “I love digging deep into situations like that and trying to better yourself or giving yourself more options."

After all, unless it’s a short sprint race, there’s a lot more to winning than just going as fast as possible. You need to think about strategy, about variables, have plans for how to react to different scenarios. And, critically, be able to think on your feet when the truly unknown happens, like say, I don’t know, a worldwide pandemic. Dixon’s approach is simultaneously simple and devastatingly effective.

“You need all the tools, man. There’s many different strategies to win a race and you need to try to cover them all.”

Is Scott Dixon an underrated champion? Join in the IndyCar discussion in the comments section below.

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Brad Pitt and girlfriend Nicole Poturalski break up - Page Six

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Brad Pitt and German model Nicole Poturalski have split, Page Six has learned.

The couple, who were first spotted together in August, are “totally over,” according to a source.

“It was never all that serious as it was cracked up to be,” the source said.

We’re told the breakup happened “a while back.”

Page Six confirmed the pair were dating back in August, when the 56-year-old actor was seen heading with the married 27-year-old brunette to the French chateau Pitt shares with his estranged wife, Angelina Jolie.

They were believed to have met in Germany at the trendy restaurant Borchard, owned by Poturalski’s husband, Roland Mary.

Poturalski and Mary — pictured together in Berlin this week — have an “open marriage,” a source had told us, leaving Mary to be “philosophical” about his young wife’s dalliance with the actor once named People magazine’s sexiest man alive, sources said.

While Pitt is a father of six kids with ex-wife Jolie — Maddox, 19, Pax, 16, Zahara, 15, Shiloh, 14, and 12-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne — Poturalski is also a parent, mom to a 7-year-old son, Emil.

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Pitt is currently at home in LA and just voiced a campaign ad for Joe Biden.

He’s still in the midst of a custody battle with Jolie, who as Page Six confirmed on Wednesday has parted ways with another of her lawyers, Priya Sopori.

The Daily Mail first reported that Jolie had split with Sopori, a Los Angeles-based former federal prosecutor who has been working with Jolie’s lead lawyer, Samantha DeJean.

Jolie is fighting Pitt, who wants to share their children 50/50. Reps for Pitt had no comment.

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