North Texas is among the first to get even quicker same-days from Amazon as the company uses a different approach to deliveries that’s creating hundreds of jobs.
The feature aims to go from “click to doorstep” in a just a handful of hours for up to 3 million items that are tagged on the site, according to the company. Dallas joins three other cities in getting the new option: Orlando, Phoenix and Philadelphia.
Folks can select items marked “Today by” for delivery throughout the day. Customers can order as late as midnight and have orders on their doorsteps by the next morning by selecting the “Overnight by 8am” option, the company said. Or, an order made between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. can get there by 6 p.m. While it’s free for Prime members, all customers can take advantage of this delivery option.
To tackle the service, Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) is relying on a process that’s using a smaller, more efficient facility, a spokesperson said in an emailed response to questions. The new Dallas-area site is located in Carrollton and is roughly 100,000 square feet – about a tenth of the size of a traditional fulfillment center.
“Each new building we open to make Same-Day Delivery even faster will create hundreds of part-time and full-time jobs,” the spokesperson said. “In addition, this expansion enables more opportunities for Amazon Flex delivery partners to choose work that fits their schedule and earn great pay while delivering Same-Day packages on behalf of Amazon.”
Amazon is investing in the Dallas area as it looks to attract more customers in the fast-growing region and competes with large rivals such as Wal-Mart and Target. That includes fulfillment centers and possible office space, among other efforts.
In September, the company drew more than 4,400 candidates to a “Career Day” effort in Dallas, one of six cities to hold the event looking to fill more than 30,000 open spots across the nation, according to Amazon.
The new facility serves as a “mini-fulfillment center” optimized for faster click-to-delivery speeds, the spokesperson said. That brought fresh thinking that diverged from the traditional package route in which included shipping an item from a fulfillment center to a sort center and then on to a delivery station for pickup. Instead, the site enables all three functions.
“This means that delivery drivers pick orders up directly from the new site and then deliver to them customers,” the spokesperson said. “By housing mini-delivery stations within these new buildings we’re bypassing the traditional middle mile journey.”
