Amazon is building a delivery station in Mills River, NC

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Amazon lockers at Whole Foods in Asheville | Photo by @avltoday

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Last week, Amazon announced that the company is building a new, 112,000-square-foot distribution center on a 27-acre site on Fanning Fields Rd. in Mills River, and it’s scheduled to open by the end of the year. It will be Amazon’s ninth facility in NC.

Here’s what we know about the plans

There are six types of Amazon warehouses. This location will be a delivery station – where customer orders are prepared for final ground delivery. According to Amazon’s website, delivery centers enable fulfillment of efficient one- to two-day shipping, which the company calls “last-mile delivery.” FYI, the other warehouses are sortable fulfillment centers (where items are picked, packed, and shipped), non-sortable fulfillment centers (for bulky or larger-sized items), sortation centers (where items are sorted by final delivery location), receive centers (which stock inventory expected to sell quickly), and specialty centers (which stock seasonal and other items not always in rotation). Check out this behind-the-scenes look from an Amazon delivery station in Nebraska.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo7S7rr_IgU

About 200 people will be hired for positions at the station, and pay will start at $15/hour. No positions have been posted yet.

The site is 27 acres total, and Amazon has invested $28 million to develop it.

Business at Amazon has been booming since the pandemic began, and the company has hired over 175,000 new employees since the beginning of March. Prime membership revenue grew to $5.6 billion total (and increased by 28% compared to last year).

Amazon plans to spend $4 billion on overtime wages + personal protective equipment (PPE) for its employees.

Want to weigh in on Amazon’s decision to come to WNC? Add your feedback to the discussion happening over on our Instagram and Facebook pages.

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