They get laid off or contracts not renewed. Hopefully with the pandemic over, hiring in other sectors will increase.

Digitization is largely irreversible. US ecommerce penetration has lots of catching up to do with China, UK, South Korea.

Layoffs, if the demand drops enough. Since these are largely low-skill jobs, mass layoffs wouldn’t be particularly surprising. Amazon already has “seasonal” labor that rotates in and out anyway.

The same thing that happens after every holiday season

I don’t see a case where people really think - “You know it’s a lot more convenient to get in my car, drive all over town to pick up items than it is to get delivery.” I hate everything about the physical retail experience.

I’m not sure how much of the hiring is seasonal, but I think software engineers hired are probably going to be for long term investments

pandemic-fueled hiring binge that is offering a job to people who have suffered from pandemic-fueled firing binge and in need of a job while the government is not capable of supporting them.

Hopefully once the pandemic is over, they can get their original job back. Or maybe not. But meanwhile those people are probably very happy to get that job.