Amazon delivery station in Ashland expects 2 million total deliveries by year's end

Between the opening of the Amazon delivery station in Ashland on June 9 through mid-November, 1 million packages were delivered in a 50-mile radius.

Another 1 million packages are expected to roll through the station by the end of year thanks to the holiday season, says Bruce Bax, operations manager.

A maximum of 23,000 to 25,000 packages are processed from the delivery station on a daily basis. When the facility first opened, it was processing around 3,000 packages daily. The pre-holiday average was 18,000 packages daily.

After packages come to the station from fulfillment centers in Kansas City and St. Louis, they are sorted onto racks or into storage bags depending on size before they are loaded onto delivery vehicles operated by delivery service partners with Amazon.

More: Inside 'the last mile' for packages through Amazon's new delivery station north of Ashland

Amazon is continuing to hire not only for the holiday season but long-term, Bax said

"When we first started in June we had about 30 employees. We are now at about 130 and we are continuing to hire," he said.

Station associates are flex-part-time, so they can choose what shifts they want to work. Station managers are full-time employees. There are sorting shifts taking loose packages and placing them onto racks, pick shifts that pull what is sorted and prep for loading onto vans and a return to station shift.

This last type "are loading dispatch for flex (delivery) drivers and also receiving any items we were unable to deliver throughout the day," Bax said. Flex delivery drivers are those who conduct deliveries from personal vehicles in shorter shifts than those by Amazon delivery service partners.

Starting pay is $16 per hour up to a maximum of 32-hours per week for station associates. Since they are flex-part-time, they do not get additional benefits of health insurance, but do receive paid time off accruals, Bax said.

There are two delivery service partner companies which operate from the delivery station: Frontline Logistics and IP Focus Logistics.

Both companies have prepared over the last couple of months for the significant ramp up in expected deliveries. This includes hiring delivery drivers within the region who work in 10-hour shifts, making $18.50 per hour.

"We have seen our route count increase from 32 six weeks ago to 48 this week," said Aaron Pondrom, owner of Frontline.

He recommends customers have delivery notifications turned on, to have addresses clearly displayed on residences, to leave exterior lights on especially for drivers making after-dark deliveries and use security cameras, if possible.

"This is the first peak season not only for our company, but the warehouse, too. There are challenges we are facing, but we are working as a team to overcome those," Pondrom said, adding winter weather can affect delivery ability.

IP Focus delivers about half of the package throughput, while Frontline takes care of the other half, said Phillip Granger with IP Focus. Prior to the holiday season, drivers were running around 7,000 packages daily. That has increased to 10,000 or more.

"We are always hiring. We need more and more people for the peak season," Granger said, adding he has run a delivery route when necessary. "We have part-time and full-time positions and seasonal."

Those seasonal drivers can transition to part- or full-time employees as the need continues to grow, Granger said.

"It's peak season and I am excited. We hope to keep delivering packages on time and creating smiles," he said.

Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on Twitter. Subscribe to support vital local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Holiday push starts at Amazon delivery station in Ashland