Amazon raised hourly rates for seasonal warehouse associates on September 27, 2026. A banner on its seasonal hiring page says rates for seasonal and regular warehouse associates went up that day, but it doesn’t say by how much.
The rest of this year’s picture is still blank. As of October 12, 2026, Amazon’s newsroom had no 2026 holiday hiring announcement, so the headcount and the seasonal pay average aren’t public yet.
The latest official figures come from October 13, 2025. That day Amazon said it was hiring for 250,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal positions, and that seasonal employees averaged over $19 an hour.
Should you wait for this year’s numbers before you apply? No. Amazon fills these roles one posting at a time, and you’re competing with everyone who set an alert for the same building.
When Amazon opens seasonal hiring
Amazon posts seasonal roles weekly from October through December, according to its October 13, 2025 holiday hiring announcement. Its 2024 announcement went out on October 3, 2024, so a mid-October headline would fit the pattern. Amazon hasn’t promised a date for 2026.
The seasonal search page on hiring.amazon.com was already up on October 12, 2026, before any announcement. So when does Amazon hire seasonal workers in practice? Whenever a building near you posts a slot, and each slot doesn’t stay open long. Amazon wrote in 2025 that its seasonal roles are popular, “often filling up within minutes of being posted.”
Speed beats polish here.
The 2025 announcement points you to amazon.com/localjobs for local alerts and says you can text NEWJOB to 31432 to get job alerts by text. Set alerts for every site within a commute you’d really make. If a role fills in minutes, checking the page once a day won’t keep up with it.
Amazon seasonal pay: the 2026 raise and the 2025 numbers
Amazon seasonal pay went up for 2026, but Amazon hasn’t published the new seasonal average. The only official word is the hiring.amazon.com banner saying hourly rates for seasonal and regular warehouse associates increased effective September 27, 2026.
The nearest published number belongs to a different group of workers. On September 16, 2026, Amazon announced that minimum starting pay for full-time core operations employees was rising to $20 an hour, with average pay reaching nearly $24. That announcement is about full-time employees, so don’t read $20 as a guaranteed floor for your seasonal role.
For seasonal workers specifically, the most recent averages are older. Amazon said seasonal employees could earn over $19 an hour on average in its October 2025 announcement. In October 2024, it said all seasonal employees earned at least $18 an hour.
What about the 250,000 figure you may have seen for 2026? HR Delivered, an HR services blog, wrote on September 30, 2026 that Amazon will hire 250,000 again with seasonal pay around $19 an hour. Amazon hadn’t published either figure on its own channels as of October 12, 2026, so treat it as an industry report until Amazon confirms it.
Workers have filled in the amount Amazon left out. In a September 2026 r/AmazonFC thread about the September 27 increase, several replies put it at about $1 an hour, including “Every site got $1. It was across the board.” Those are worker reports with few upvotes, not an Amazon figure, so check the rate on your own posting.
Your real rate is on the posting, and it moves with the building and the hours you pick. Amazon’s seasonal hiring page lists weekly pay, overtime for more than 40 hours, time-and-a-half on holidays and sign-on bonuses for some jobs. Its shifts page adds that most early-morning and night shifts earn more per hour, and weekend shifts may pay more too.
Read the bonus footnote before you count on that money. Amazon says bonuses are limited to select locations, are paid in installments and may require employment over 180 days. A stint that starts in October and ends in January falls well short of that.
Shopping around? UPS postings dated September 30 and October 1, 2026 started seasonal package handlers at $21 an hour, as our UPS seasonal jobs page shows. FedEx package handler postings ran $17.65 to $22.25 an hour in September 2026, per our FedEx seasonal jobs guide, and our seasonal jobs hiring roundup lines up the other big employers.
Seasonal roles at Amazon, and who signs your paycheck
Amazon’s holiday hiring runs through its fulfillment and transportation network, so most Amazon holiday jobs are warehouse roles in fulfillment centers, sortation centers and delivery stations. Many “Amazon seasonal” driver ads on job boards come from Delivery Service Partners, separate companies that hire their own drivers.
| Role | What you do | Who hires you | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fulfillment center associate | Store, pick and pack items; load trucks; use scanners | Amazon | hiring.amazon.com, Oct 2026 |
| Sortation center associate | Sort, scan and stack packages on pallets | Amazon | hiring.amazon.com, Oct 2026 |
| Delivery station associate | Unload trucks; sort and stage packages for delivery | Amazon | hiring.amazon.com, Oct 2026 |
| Seasonal delivery driver | Drive routes; one listing requires age 21 | A Delivery Service Partner | ZipRecruiter listings, Oct 2026 |
The driver row is where people get surprised. Index Distributors, which describes itself as a Delivery Service Partner, posted a seasonal driver position running October 15 to January 15 that requires drivers to be at least 21. Another partner, 315 Logistics, says its seasonal positions can turn permanent based on attendance, performance and business needs. Either way, you’d be employed by that company, with its own pay and rules, even if the van carries Amazon branding.
Warehouse roles differ more than the titles suggest. Amazon’s fulfillment center page says the work can include powered industrial trucks and heights up to 35 feet, with training provided, while sortation and delivery station roles center on scanning, sorting and staging packages. If heights bother you, read each role page before you apply.
Looking for a work-from-home seasonal role? Amazon’s own hiring pages say most of its hourly jobs require being at a local Amazon facility, and only some customer service and corporate roles offer remote or partial remote work. Customer service also runs its own hiring process, separate from the warehouse steps below.
How long the season runs at your building
Amazon doesn’t print a fixed end date for seasonal warehouse roles on its hiring pages or in its 2025 announcement. Workers on r/AmazonFCs say each site decides based on its own business needs, so two people hired the same week can finish weeks apart.
A September 2026 r/AmazonFCs thread asked exactly how long a seasonal job lasts. The top reply, at 17 upvotes, was short: “It will just depend on the business needs of the site.” Another worker added a detail worth more than any average:
“My site said they never really have to let anyone go because they are seasonal, but I think it’s because a lot of people drop out due to attendance issues. (College town)”
– r/AmazonFCs, September 2026 (6 upvotes)
Read that as one site’s experience. Still, it lines up with how high-volume hiring works: if enough seasonal workers leave on their own, a building has fewer reasons to end anyone’s assignment.
Your schedule will also look shorter than it is. In a September 2026 r/AmazonFC thread, a worker told a nervous seasonal hire that their own schedule showed nothing past December 8 and that it should update later. An empty calendar after early December isn’t a termination notice, so don’t quit early because the app looks blank.
When do cuts happen at sites that make them? In a December 2025 r/AmazonFC thread, one answer was “Approx 2nd week in January,” while another worker replied, “We still have seasonal people from LAST peak.” Building type seems to matter too. A worker who had been a seasonal at a sort center said in October 2025 that they were laid off in mid-January, and that fulfillment centers “should be pretty safe since they typically have a higher turnover rate.”
Expect longer weeks before any of that. Workers in a September 2026 r/AmazonFCs thread said peak adds hours or days depending on the site, such as five 11-hour days, and that the first scheduled extra time often lands around Prime Big Deal Days in October. One noted a 60-hour weekly cap.
Want a firmer answer for your building? At the pre-hire appointment, ask what week last year’s seasonal assignments ended there. Nobody can promise you a date, but a recruiter who knows the site’s history gives you something to plan around.
From application to Day 1
Most Amazon seasonal warehouse jobs don’t involve an interview. Amazon’s seasonal page says it’s easy to apply and get a job offer right away, and that “you don’t even need to interview.”
The steps after the application still take real time, though, and one of them is unpaid. Amazon’s hiring process page lays out the sequence. The online application asks for basic information and your preferred shift, takes about twenty minutes, and doesn’t need a resume. After it, you fill in a Work Opportunity Tax Credit questionnaire and a Form I-9.
Next comes an in-person pre-hire appointment, where you bring proof of identity and employment eligibility. Amazon says you don’t get paid to go to it, because it’s part of the application process.
Appointments can also disappear. An applicant on r/AmazonFCs wrote in October 2026 that their pre-hire appointment was canceled and no new slots showed up. A reply explained the pattern: “They over hire because the turnover is high. Just gotta wait and try again.”
Your offer is contingent on a background check and a drug test, and you’ll see those results in your Amazon Jobs account before you accept the formal offer. Then you order safety shoes with a credit of up to $110 and set up the Amazon A to Z app. Confirm where Day 1 happens, too. Amazon says training can take place somewhere other than your assigned warehouse, and your welcome email names the location.
Will you face a test? Some applicants do. Workers on r/AmazonFC have described recorded responses and scenario questions at some sites in 2026, and our Amazon assessment test page walks through what hourly applicants report seeing. Give the application an unhurried hour in case your site uses them.
Day 1 has a dress code. Amazon’s hiring process page asks for closed-toe shoes, no drawstring jackets or hoodies, no long necklaces or hoop earrings, and long hair pulled back and up.
Staying on after peak
Amazon doesn’t publish a seasonal-to-permanent conversion rate. Workers describe conversion as a decision each site makes based on business needs, and some seasonal hires are converted months after peak ends.
“i was hired a season last october, was given a blue badge in june”
– r/AmazonFCs, September 2026 (4 upvotes)
Amazon’s own description is warmer but no more specific. Its 2025 announcement says that every year it meets employees “who started as seasonal hires and go on to become managers, trainers, or leaders across our buildings.” That tells you what happens to some people, and it gives you no odds.
Asked in October 2026 how to move from seasonal to permanent, a commenter on r/AmazonFCs answered flatly: “You don’t do anything different. They convert people from seasonal to permanent based on business needs.”
It helps to know that two separate decisions are involved. One October 2025 r/AmazonFC reply described them: whether the site keeps seasonals at all after peak, which follows its total labor needs, and whether a kept seasonal converts to a blue badge, which follows the site’s blue-badge ratio. Another reply in that thread said that when a building keeps people, “they’ll keep people based on tenure (last in, first out). Otherwise, they’ll offboard.”
That makes your start date matter. A worker in a separate October 2025 thread said people hired closer to the end of peak “may be cut if numbers are too high afterwards.” If you want to stay past January, apply early.
That’s probably right about who makes the call, but you can still be the easy name to keep. When I helped rework Walmart’s recruitment, job-hopping and cost per hire were two of the problems we worked on. A seat that has to be filled twice costs a high-volume employer twice, and the manager deciding who stays knows it.
So attendance is the record that carries you.
Show up for every scheduled day through peak, take the hours other people skip, and tell your manager in early December that you’d like a regular role if one opens. Will that guarantee a blue badge? No, since the site’s needs still decide.
Converting changes the package. Amazon’s 2025 announcement says people who stay on in regular full-time roles get access to health care and education programs like Career Choice. Its September 2026 pay announcement describes an annual step plan that raises pay in each of someone’s first three years, and says regular full-time employees get health care from day one.
Amazon seasonal jobs FAQ
When does Amazon start hiring seasonal workers?
Amazon starts posting seasonal warehouse roles in October and keeps posting weekly through December, according to its October 2025 holiday announcement. Its last two headcount announcements came on October 3, 2024 and October 13, 2025, and no 2026 announcement had appeared by October 12, 2026.
How long do Amazon seasonal jobs last?
Amazon seasonal jobs run through the holiday peak, but Amazon publishes no fixed end date. Workers on r/AmazonFCs said in September 2026 that each site decides based on its business needs. One Delivery Service Partner driver listing ran from October 15 to January 15.
How much do Amazon seasonal workers make?
Amazon seasonal workers averaged over $19 an hour in 2025, according to Amazon’s October 2025 announcement. Its seasonal hiring page says rates rose on September 27, 2026, but Amazon hasn’t published the new seasonal average, so the posting for your building shows your rate.
Can an Amazon seasonal job become permanent?
Yes, an Amazon seasonal job can become permanent, but Amazon publishes no conversion rate. Workers on r/AmazonFCs say conversion follows each site’s business needs, and one said in September 2026 that they went from a seasonal hire in October to a blue badge the following June.
Do you need an interview for an Amazon seasonal job?
Most Amazon seasonal warehouse jobs have no interview. Amazon’s seasonal hiring page says “you don’t even need to interview,” though you still attend an unpaid, in-person pre-hire appointment and clear a background check and drug test before the formal offer. You can apply through Amazon’s seasonal jobs search.