After increasing hourly wages and expanding its fulfillment network last year to meet a surge in demand, Amazon said in its recent announcement to sellers that it had “expected a return to normalcy” from elevated costs in 2022 as COVID-19 restrictions eased. But climbing inflation put more pressure on the e-commerce giant as they year progressed.
“It’s still unclear if these inflationary costs will go up or down, or for how long they will persist,” Amazon said. “Rather than a permanent fee change, we will be employing a fuel and inflation surcharge for the first time—a mechanism broadly used across supply chain providers.”