Amazon’s Ashland Distribution Center takes on holiday surge
ASHLAND, Mo. (KMIZ)
Amazon's Distribution Center in Ashland is taking on the pressure of the holiday season.
The 49,000-square-foot facility has hundreds of workers on the clock daily to ensure holiday packages get delivered in time for Christmas.
Amazon Distribution Center site lead Harley Fowler says,
"At 2 a.m. they start bringing in packages, about 33,000 of them, stowed then picked by our employees here then they will be put on vans or flex routes for smaller cars and they will be sent out," said Harley Fowler, the site lead for the Ashland center.
The packages come from Kansas City, St. Louis and the Springfield area, Amazon spokesperson Andy DiOrio said.
"It's kinda like getting inventory from a grocery store," DiOrio said.
The orders are shipped to destinations within what Amazon calls its last mile, which covers a 50-mile radius that stretches from Jefferson City, west to Boonville, north to Moberly and east to Montgomery City.
Covering that radius takes double the drives as Fowler says over 100 trucks are loaded with packages every day and drivers make anywhere between 100 to 200 stops to Mid-Missouri doorsteps.
While drivers hit the roads, year-round and seasonal employees play a crucial role as the demand for speedy delivery soars.
About 100 employees were hired this holiday season, Fowler said, and since the facility opened two and half years ago 600 more jobs have been created. Across the U.S., Amazon says it has hired 250,000 seasonal workers for the 2025 holiday season.
DiOrio said 15 million packages have been sent out to Mid-Missouri homes from the facility since it opened.
A number of items are keeping workers busy. "'Minecraft' is always a big deal here," Fowler said. "Dollhouses are the ones we are seeing the most, toys, tech and home goods are three of the more popular categories we are seeing," DiOrio said.
The increase in demand brings an increase in challenges.
Fowler says getting everyone up to speed in a timely manner to make sure they feel comfortable doing the job and having items stay in the condition they arrived in are the biggest challenges.
A challenge online shoppers also face is porch pirates once a package arrives.
"Order in a delivery window when you know you'll be home," DiOrio said. "No. 2, choose a certain day of the week to have your deliveries delivered on that day. No. 3, specify instructions to hide a package that is not at your front door, and No. 4, choose security devices like Ring cameras."
To make sure your orders arrive in time for Christmas, Fowler said it's best to look at the day when Amazon says it expects to deliver the order.
Amazon is still looking to hire full and part-tie workers with a starting pay of $18.50 an hour and you can find the job application here.
