Amazon has closed its DRT1 delivery station in Durham as the e-commerce company scales back its overall warehouse capacity.
The 260,000-square-foot facility on Hoover Road in east Durham was the city’s first Amazon delivery center, focusing on last-mile logistics to get tens of thousands of packages to customers daily. The center had its grand opening in 2019, and at one time supported close to 400 permanent and part-time jobs.
Amazon spokesperson Steve Kelly said the company has “offered all employees the opportunity to transfer to several different delivery stations close by.” He did not share how many employees were working at DRT1.
Kelly said DRT1 started slowing down its operations in July, with most of the services being taken over by DRT8, a delivery station a few miles away on the other side of the Durham Freeway. Amazon will also continue to operate several other facilities in the area, including a 2-million-square-foot distribution center in Garner.
In the past few months, Amazon has shuttered dozens of delivery warehouses and delayed plans for new facilities across the country. This shift comes as more customers resume traditional in-person shopping since the height of the pandemic.
On a quarterly earnings call in July, Amazon chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky said the company has “taken steps to slow future network capacity additions” in part due to the industry seeing more “normal shopping patterns.”
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
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