Exclusive: Why Amazon orders are now arriving faster to Tri-Cities’ doorsteps
Amazon Inc. is speeding up deliveries in the Tri-Cities after opening a delivery station in north Pasco.
The Seattle e-commerce giant confirmed its 87,000-square-foot delivery station is now up and running at 5802 N. Capitol Ave.
It employs more than 200 full- and part-time employees and doubles as a home for a vendor, Delivery Service Partners, which supports 90 indirect jobs.
The $25 million station is the second major Pasco installation for Amazon and the closest to customers in the complicated process of accepting, processing and delivering their orders.
The first was a 1.1 million-square-foot package hub which opened last summer. It resembles an airport for incoming merchandise from vendors, with truck bays serving a similar role as passenger gates.
Amazon calls it an “Inbound Cross Dock” and it opened in July with more than 1,800 workers at 1351 N. Road 40 E., near Sacajawea State Park.
A similar sized warehouse across the street has not yet opened. And Amazon has yet to say what it’s plans are for that property.
Last mile for orders
Delivery stations like the one that just opened in Pasco are the last stop on an product’s journey from manufacturer to customer. Amazon said they support the “last mile” in its order process.
How it works:
Once an Amazon customer places an order, items travel from fulfillment and sorting centers to delivery stations. They are loaded on delivery vehicles and dispatched to addresses within a 50-mile radius.
“We’re proud to grow alongside the Pasco community,” said Easton Craft, Amazon’s manager of economic development policy, in a statement released to the Tri-City Herald.
Pasco Mayor Pete Serrano welcomed the new addition, via the Amazon statement.
“The addition of this delivery station enhances connectivity, supports economic vitality, and reinforces Pasco’s growth as a thriving hub,” he said.
$20.25 an hour, benefits
Wages for the delivery station start at $20.25 an hour and include health, vision, dental, retirement and other benefits that start on the first day.
The company partners with Washington State University Tri-Cities to support workers career advancement interests through its Career Choice program.
Amazon first identified Pasco as a site for warehouses in about 2021. The two warehouses on South Road 40 East and the delivery station have a combined construction value of about $250 million.
Amazon said it has invested more than $277 billion in Washington since 2010, creating more than 87,000 full- and part-time jobs.
For job information, go to hiring.amazon.com.