Fargo Amazon facility gets ready for business

"We're receiving our first item on September 19th."

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) –Fargo’s Amazon facility is getting ready to begin fulfilling orders.

With the construction of the new facility complete, orders will soon be ready to be boxed up and shipped to their destinations.

“We’re receiving our first item on September 19th. So, that’s when the building will open. We’ll have people in the building and start trying to get it full,” Fargo’s Amazon General Manager John Sabo said.

With a corporate giant in town, it means job creation and commerce development for the region.

“For our current hiring we are ramping up, it changes every single day, we’re on track but the goal would be 1,000 people. Fully staffed this building would be at 1,400 and we’re looking pretty good right now,” Fargo’s Amazon Human Resources Manager Ashley Moran said.

“Amazon has continued to grow pretty aggressively over the last couple of years and the way we’re doing that is to try and expand to get closer to the customer. Our primary market is going to be North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota,” said Sabo.

Sitting at 1.1 million square feet, the facility is the largest building in the state, but its focus will be more than just fulfilling and distributing orders.

“We put a billion dollars last year into safety, that is the two main things in our organization; it’s our people and our safety and we do not compromise on either one of those. We have a safety shoe program where we partnered with Zappos and we pay for shoes for our associates. We want them to have composite toe shoes so their feet are safe,” said Moran.

The facility also strives to make the environment more inclusive for all employees.

“We are very focused on D.E.I,(Diversity, equity and inclusion. We have tons of different programs in support for our associates. One of them being the mothers room, we have several different worship rooms or quiet spaces where associates can go either if they’re practicing a religion and need to step off for those practices or for mental health purposes,” added Moran.

Associates are also eligible for a career choice program that provides them with schooling support for up to $5,250 annually in tuition expenses.

The first ship date for the facility is set for October 3rd.