The path an Amazon package takes through Durham’s same-day fulfillment center
The amount of time it takes an average piece of merchandise to move through Amazon’s same-day fulfillment center in Durham is stunning, site leader Miguel Rios-Torres acknowledged.
“Eleven minutes,” he said with a slight smile. “Very short amount of time.”
The Triangle is one of 110 metro areas in the country where Amazon offers same-day delivery through independent contractors — and every second counts.
On Amazon Prime Day — this Tuesday and Wednesday — this facility is expected to ship out around 75,000 units a day to customers around North Carolina, the company reports, 50% more than usual.
Robots help facility run
Amazon’s Durham facility occupies a 200,000-square-foot building tucked among warehouses just outside Research Triangle Park. It was constructed in 2021 and sold for $41 million the following year.
There’s no permanent signage outside the nondescript gray building, but the parking lot was bustling with workers at 11 a.m. on a Wednesday in July.
The 11-minute journey starts when a tractor trailer pulls into a dock at the back of the building.
Inside the truck — from the Amazon distribution center in Garner, 25 miles away — are hundreds of items loaded in yellow plastic totes on blue plastic pallets.
A forklift driver unloads the pallets, and workers stage them for processing.
The larger items — including car seats, bags of dog food and cases of diapers — are stored in five towering stacks.
The smaller items, workers scan and stow as directed by computer into 18-inch slots on vertical pods, which swivel around large circular robots. Workers must stand on stairs to reach the top rows.
“We have hundreds of pods in our facility that hold thousands of items,” said Joe Ewing, who handles operations in Durham.
The goods are sorted at random by an algorithm. The robots — which can move 30 mph per hour and carry over 1,500 pounds, Rios-Torres said — and a network of conveyor belts allow workers to remain in their stations throughout their shifts.
“The pods are essentially bought to all of our employees, which makes it a lot safer and a lot more autonomous,” Ewing said.
On a screen immediately in front of the stower, a timer ticks off the seconds, and on a neighboring screen her stats are shown on a game-style leaderboard beside a cartoon frog juggling fruit.
As soon as an item is scanned, it’s ready for purchase on the Amazon app.
Buyers can choose delivery in as little as four hours.
Relying on gig workers
The workers don’t wear uniforms, and it’s hard to talk over the hum of the facility, which opened two years ago this month.
It’s open 24 hours a day and employs 500 people, according to Rios-Torres.
Delivery, however, relies on gig workers.
The Durham facility ships its products through Amazon Flex drivers, who deliver packages in their own vehicles. The company has been relying on Flex drivers for nearly a decade.
Amazon says they typically earn $18 to $25 hourly. They are contractors, and don’t receive the benefits that come with permanent employment.
A union drive is underway in the massive distribution center nearby in Garner, but it’s not clear if any similar efforts have reached Durham.
Delivering from Greensboro to Clayton
As items are ordered, workers pick them from the inventory.
With gloved hands, other workers scan the selected items, pack them in a bag recommended by the system, slap on a sticker and push out the air, then shove the package onto a conveyor belt that slopes toward the exit.
The packages receive another smaller sticker that indicates which metal cart workers should place them in.
Meanwhile, drivers peruse the app for pickups. Once accepted, a driver walks inside the warehouse, scans the right cart with their phone, and wheels it outside, loading the contents into their personal vehicle as the app populates a route.
Rios-Torres said the site — known internally as SNC3 — delivers one hour east and west, from Greensboro to Clayton. It’s situated near where interstates 40 and 885 meet.
NC companies rely on Amazon for distribution
Amazon says 60% of its store sales come from independent sellers, generating over $1.9 billion in North Carolina alone. One of the state’s 11,000 independent sellers is Turmeric Zone, based in Morrisville.
Turmeric Zone’s owners, married couple Samir and Elizabeth Trivedi, toured the facility with media on Wednesday. They’ve been using Amazon since 2018, and said consumers’ trust in the global brand has helped them grow.
Annual revenue is now in the six figures, Samir Trivedi said, compared to $3,000 the year they launched from an apartment kitchen.
“Amazon became one of the best decisions that we made,” he said, adding that 99% of the company’s business now operates through Amazon.
Turmeric is bright orange ginger-relative used as a spice and for its potential health benefits.
The Trivedis box their goods — honeys, powders and the turmeric roots — and ship them off to Amazon centers around the country.
“So, Amazon decides where it goes. It might go to a facility in Charlotte or Virginia,” Elizabeth Trivedi said. “We don’t even have to think about it. It just prints the label for us to ship it out.”
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This story was originally published July 15, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
