Thomas Weber|Treasure Coast Newspapers
AnotherAmazon delivery station is coming to St. Lucie County, theEconomic Development Council announced Tuesday.
Amazon already has two facilities here:afulfillment centerunder constructioninMidway Business Park in northern Port St. Lucie and a delivery stationopened in King's Highway Industrial Park in 2019.
But how are the two different? As Amazon's presence expands on the Treasure Coast, here's a breakdown of its facilities and the purposeseach will serve.
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What is an Amazon delivery station?
Amazon delivery stationsreceivepackages from fulfillment centers, sort through themand dispatch drivers to deliverthem straight tocustomers.
The Treasure Coast'sfirst delivery station opened in 2019, and the second could be completed by September, according to an Economic Development Council news release.
The newestfacility is expected to employ200 full-time workers with wages starting at $15 an hour. That doesn't include contracted employees, such as delivery drivers, which means the station likely will employee many more people, said Maureen Saltzer, county Economic Development Council spokesperson.
The 220,000-square-foot facility will be located in southwest Port St. Lucie, in Legacy Park inTradition,abusiness park off of Interstate 95 and SouthwestBecker Road.
The new station will beresponsible for delivering packages to customers withina 45-mile radius, about as far north as Sebastian and as far west as Okeechobee.
Why have two delivery stations on the Treasure Coast?
Delivery stations are responsible forlocal, "last-mile" deliveries,according to Amazon's website.
Amazon builds delivery stations according to customer demand, said spokesperson Owen Torres.
"Delivery stations enable Amazon Logistics to supplement capacity and flexibility to Amazon’s delivery capabilities to support the growing volume of customer orders," Torres said.
What's the difference between a delivery andfulfillment center?
A fulfillment center is a larger facility, ranging between 600,000 and 1 million square feet, that's responsible for receivingshipments of items, packing themand distributing them to delivery stations. Port St. Lucie's will be 1.1 million square feet.
Delivery stations distribute packages directly to customers, but not every fulfillment center delivers items straight to customers.
The fulfillment centerin Port St. Luciewill be a non-sortable center, meaning it mostly will packand distributelarger, bulkier items, Saltzer said.
Once a customer orders a bulk item, the fulfillment center sends it to a delivery station for drivers to bringto customers' doorsteps. Thisfulfillment center itself won't deliver items directly to customers.
The Treasure Coastfulfillment center isexpected to employ about 500 workers when it opens.
When will all three Treasure Coast Amazon facilities be fully operational?
The fulfillment centeris expected to be completed this fall, and the Legacy Park delivery station could be operating by September, according to the news release.
How many Amazon facilities are there in Florida?
Florida currently has 13 fulfillment centers and 34 delivery stations, according to Amazon's website.
Thomas Weber is a Digital Now Reporter at TCPalm. You can reach him at thomas.weber@tcpalm.com or 813-545-9113. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
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