01), explained in
August 2000: "Our experience in Germany, where book prices are
also regulated, shows that prices are not the main factor for
our customers to purchase books at Amazon. The main factor
resides in the additional services we provide. We offer a whole
bunch of services, beginning with a large choice in our catalog
- we sell all the French cultural products. We have a powerful
search engine. As for music, our site offers the only catalog
searchable by song title. In addition to the editorial content
of our site, which ranges from the one of a traditional
bookstore to the one of a magazine, we have a customer service
24h/24 7days/7, something unique in the French market. Finally,
an additional specificity of Amazon is our commitment for a
fast delivery. We aim to have more than 90% of our products in
stock (at our storage facility)."

Amazon's economic model was already admired by many in Europe,
but could hardly be considered a model too for staff
management, with short-term labor contracts, low wages, and
poor working conditions.

Despite the secrecy surrounding the working conditions of the
European staff, problems began to filter. In November 2000, the
Prewitt Organizing Fund and the French union SUD-PTT Loire
Atlantique launched an awareness campaign among the employees
of Amazon France, after meeting with a group of 50 employees in
the distribution center of Boigny-sur-Bionne. In a statement
following the meeting, SUD-PTT denounced "degraded working
conditions, flexible schedules, short-term labor contracts in
periods of flux, low wages, and minimal social guarantees".
Similar action was conducted in Germany and in U.K. Patrick
Moran, head of the Prewitt Organizing Fund, founded an
employee organization under the name of Alliance of New Economy
Workers. In response, Amazon sent internal memos to its
employees, stressing the pointlessness of unions within the
company.

At the end of January 2001, Amazon, which employed 1,800 people
in Europe, announced a 15% reduction of its European staff. It
also closed its customer service center in The Hague
(Netherlands). Its 240 employees were offered to work in one of
the two other European customer service centers, in Slough
(United Kingdom) and in Regensberg (Germany).

= Amazon worldwide

The second group of foreign clients - after European customers
- was in Japan. In July 2000, during an international symposium
on information technology in Toky