Amazon And Apple Operations Scaled Back Amid Growing Civil Unrest

The COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to much of the world's businesses and operations and it has only been recently that some have finally been able to reboot a small portion of their lives and work. But then a single even caused waves across the US and even the world, forcing companies like Amazon and Apple to scale back or even close their shops as the number of protests and violent incidents rise in the wake of George Floyd's death.

The unrest and tension already present due to the coronavirus may have created the fragile situation that was ignited by a single spark. For some people and companies that were starting to get back to their lives, they are back again to the start, forced indoors out of concerns for safety. Others, however, have found some renewed purpose, marching down streets in protests at the risk of their own lives.

Unfortunately, situations like these always result in violent activity from both sides that naturally affect even those who may not be directly affected or concerned. As the number of demonstrations and the presence of uniformed personnel rise across states, Amazon decided to adjust its deliveries and routes in some cities like Chicago and Los Angeles to keep couriers and packages safe.

Apple, who has just reopened less than half of its 270 stores nationwide, also closed many of them again. There have been reports of looting and vandalism in Apple stores during mass protests.

It isn't exactly new for protests to turn into riots and it's definitely not new for some people to take advantage of the confusion and unrest for whatever other purposes they might personally have. Unfortunately, it also muddles the real purpose of these mass actions as some people will focus on such side effects rather than the issue at hand.