topic Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse in Community Chat

QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

sunshine45 — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 22:21:19 GMT

sad news i am sure for those in the community, especially their employees...... i hope they will be able to find new jobs OR are able to relocate to another warehouse city.

QVC to close warehouse hit by huge fire, lay off more than 1,900 workers in Rocky Mount :: WRAL.com

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

Goodie2shoes — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 22:27:04 GMT

Very Sad news for all of those workers. I hope QVC can come up with a solution maybe find another building in the same area for now or until they rebuild so the employees can return to their jobs. I would like to think they are working on something for those workers

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

ValuSkr — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 22:40:39 GMT

More than 1900 people will be laid off. Sad. They'll have an opportunity to apply for other jobs in the Qurate Retail Group. But I doubt they'd be reimbursed for relocation expense.

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

Kachina624 — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 22:45:35 GMT

@Goodie2shoes wrote:
Very Sad news for all of those workers. I hope QVC can come up with a solution maybe find another building in the same area for now or until they rebuild so the employees can return to their jobs. I would like to think they are working on something for those workers

@Goodie2shoes They pretty much say that's not going to happen.

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

ValuSkr — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 23:31:38 GMT

I guess that, ultimately, Rocky Mount distribuion center wasn't very important to QVC. It opened in 1999 and expanded in 2011.

Maybe there's so much commercial property available, that it's cheaper for QVC to buy or lease existing space elsewhere. Or they are going to use the opportunity to angle for tax abatements in return for saving 1900 jobs.

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

qbetzforreal — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 00:06:55 GMT

That's a hard hit to a small community.

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

tansy — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 00:07:04 GMT

Has the cause of the fire been determined?

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

gertrudecloset — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 00:14:34 GMT

This is so unfortunate. If QVC was a large employer in the area, how can other companies in the surrounding area absorb all the workers?

I'm surprised QVC doesn't want to rebuild the warehouse. If they close this one down, will it interrupt their supply chain?

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

walkingal — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 03:00:24 GMT

@tansy I'm wondering the same thing, and if it had something to do with the closing.

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

SurferWife — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 05:25:36 GMT

It's just a sad, heartbreaking story.

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

luvzchiz — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 05:36:33 GMT

Terribly sad. I do hope those affected will be able to find new employment.

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

decaf — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 06:01:24 GMT

On Wed I read that QVC was paying the employees through the end of February. The commercial RE market was decimated everywhere by Covid (everyone started working from home), it's likely cheaper for QVC to relocate than rebuild there. How horrible for these employees, this whole area.

I also read the ATFE has finished collecting evidence, basically looking for arson, but the results of the investigation will not be available for some time.

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

sunshine45 — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 06:34:50 GMT

@tansy wrote:
Has the cause of the fire been determined?

@tansy

at the end of the article it says that the fire is still under investigation.

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

seaBreeze — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 15:15:32 GMT

The company I worked for (In Maryland) installed their 'automated conveyor belt & sortation system' at Rocky Mount plant in 1999. The project manager there said that this facility received 30% returns. Be curious where this will be occurring now.

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

Sooner — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 15:27:04 GMT

@seaBreeze wrote:

The company I worked for (In Maryland) installed their 'automated conveyor belt & sortation system' at Rocky Mount plant in 1999. The project manager there said that this facility received 30% returns. Be curious where this will be occurring now.

@seaBreeze So it was basically a return facility. That sort of changes the picture and why they will close it doesn't it? So perhaps with shipping issues on what is coming in from wholesalers to QVC you can assume what burned was mostly returns.

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

sunshine45 — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 15:38:51 GMT

@Sooner wrote:
@seaBreeze wrote:

The company I worked for (In Maryland) installed their 'automated conveyor belt & sortation system' at Rocky Mount plant in 1999. The project manager there said that this facility received 30% returns. Be curious where this will be occurring now.
@seaBreeze So it was basically a return facility. That sort of changes the picture and why they will close it doesn't it? So perhaps with shipping issues on what is coming in from wholesalers to QVC you can assume what burned was mostly returns.

this may be too simplified, but if it housed 30% of all returns, what about the other 70%? that is a lot of merchandise.

the vast majority of my clothing items and shoes came from the rocky mount facility.

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

Johnnyeager — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 16:03:58 GMT

This facility handled 30% of total QVC returns or 30% of the facility's capacity was devoted to returns? Or both?

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

MorningLover — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 18:43:10 GMT

This was from...

Business Wire

Dec. 20, 2021

QVC is working to assess the financial and business impacts of the incident and evaluate alternatives to normalize operations as soon as practicable.

Rocky Mount is the Company’s second-largest fulfillment center processing ~25-30% of volume for both QVC and HSN businesses and is the Company’s primary returns center for hard goods, which create significant challenges to a prompt resolution.

However, over the last 48 hours, the Company has taken a number of steps designed to protect the operational integrity of the business and the customer experience notwithstanding this tragic event.

QVC has engaged in a preliminary review of salvageable inventory at the facility, diverted inbound orders to other parts of the ecosystem and begun evaluating secondary facilities that could be employed to supplement fulfillment and returns demand while Rocky Mount remains closed.

In addition, the Company carries customary insurance that includes protection for fire damage, and the applicable carriers have been notified; no additional information about the Company’s insurance coverage is available at this time.

QVC is working with state and local authorities as they investigate the source of this incident...

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

twinsister — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 16:33:54 GMT

This is so sad all the way around, from the tragic loss of life to the loss of jobs for those employees. I hope they are able to find new employment, but it is so difficult when the major source of jobs is gone.

Re: QVC to close Rocky Mount warehouse

Kachina624 — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 17:03:06 GMT

@Sooner wrote:
@seaBreeze wrote:

The company I worked for (In Maryland) installed their 'automated conveyor belt & sortation system' at Rocky Mount plant in 1999. The project manager there said that this facility received 30% returns. Be curious where this will be occurring now.
@seaBreeze So it was basically a return facility. That sort of changes the picture and why they will close it doesn't it? So perhaps with shipping issues on what is coming in from wholesalers to QVC you can assume what burned was mostly returns.

@Sooner Not necessarily a return facility. That was just a small part of the operation. I know I've received many new items from that warehouse. All of my returns go to the Ontario, CA. warehouse but I also get at least half of my orders from there.

If QVC built a new facility in Rocky Mount, it would be a year or more before it was usable. Probably they've found a suitable facility somewhere in the South already built that can be retrofitted for their purpose very quickly.