March 29, 2022

Though potentially overshadowed by its gigantic counterpart, an Amazon facility that started operations in Sioux Falls a year ago has ramped up in a big way.

It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 800 E. 60th St. N., employing more than 250 part-time employees plus additional delivery drivers who work for two contracted services.

“We started small, but we’ve delivered over 4 million packages in one year’s tenure, so that’s awesome,” said Sara Meyer, the area manager who oversees the operation.

Meyer, who has lived in Sioux Falls for six years, came from the food and beverage industry to work at Amazon at the start of 2021.

“I took a leap of faith, but there’s no turning back,” she said. “I am loving the opportunity it provides.”

She oversees a team that receives orders from Amazon fulfillment centers, processes them and sorts them for delivery to a radius about an hour around Sioux Falls.

If a customer orders an item carried by a fulfillment center in Minneapolis and it’s sent out by 8 p.m., “we receive it that night, and we process it and sort it for delivery … and there’s a chance you will receive it tomorrow.”

When the Sioux Falls fulfillment center opens later this year in Foundation Park, merchandise from that warehouse simply will have to travel 5 miles east to the delivery station where it will be headed to customers.

Could that lead to same-day delivery? Maybe.

“To my knowledge, nothing is set in stone yet,” Meyer said, while adding, “Nothing is off the table for the future.”

The Sioux Falls delivery station began with 12 people and processed a couple hundred packages a day. It now has grown to up to 15,000 packages, with capacity to reach 50,000.

Before the delivery station opened, Amazon packages were delivered by third-party services such as UPS or FedEx.

“The great thing about Amazon is the amount of growth and opportunity to learn different areas of the business is amazing,” said Tasha Chagolla, an assistant manager who has worked in sorting and human resources roles over the past year and now runs the return-to-station area.

She followed family to Sioux Falls in 2018, moving from Australia.

“My brother-in-law was here first, and he just said to us Sioux Falls was a great place to raise kids, and here we are, and I do agree,” she said. “We’ve made this home.”

She worked in retail management before Amazon.

The delivery station is still hiring – visit here to learn more – and the larger fulfillment center is expected to begin hiring 60 to 90 days before it opens, depending on the position. That’s expected to be by fall, said Scott Seroka, public relations manager for operations, who coordinated tours of the delivery station today.

“Something we’re really proud of is how we empower women leaders and provide them a network so they can grow their careers,” he said. “At this particular facility, there are a strong number of women leaders, and we’re quite proud of that.”

For Meyer, one of the biggest eye-openers has been seeing the extent to which Amazon goes to meet scheduled deliveries.

“We say we’re customer-obsessed … but our role is to get the package delivered,” she said. “If a package doesn’t make it, we look at our management team and say, ‘Who can get this package delivered today?’ We exhaust all measures to get a package delivered for the day. When you work in a delivery station, that is our entire operation.”