Amazon chooses Charlotte as one of just a few cities to get fastest same-day service

Amazon is bringing its fastest same-day service yet to Charlotte, and just a few other cities.

Amazon customers can now get some items in as fast as five hours, according to Amazon. Eligible items will have the “Today” or “Overnight” option.

The service is free for Prime members on orders of at least $35, or $2.99 per order, according to the company website. Non-Prime customers pay $12.99 per order.

The company opened a mini-fulfillment center at 10622 Bryton Corp Center Drive in Huntersville in June for the faster same-delivery service, according to the company.

The 125,000-square-foot building stores up to 3 million “need-it-today” and popular items for faster delivery, according to Amazon.

“These new facilities are in close proximity to customers, decreasing the distance drivers have to travel to deliver packages to customers,” the company said in a statement to the Observer.

Customers can also place orders by midnight for overnight delivery by 8 a.m., according to Amazon’s blog on Wednesday.

Amazon introduced the faster same-day delivery last year in Philadelphia, Phoenix, Arizona, Orlando, Florida, Dallas, Texas, Nashville, Tennessee and Washington, D.C. This week, the service was expanded to six cities: Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Tampa, Florida and Houston, in addition to Charlotte.

“Most deliveries occur within hours after the order is placed, but the fastest same-day delivery to-date was made in 22 minutes in Dallas,” according to Amazon’s blog.

Amazon’s growth in the Charlotte area

The faster delivery service is just the latest expansion move in the Charlotte.

In April, Amazon said it would open a 500,000-square-foot fulfillment center at 12220 Carolina Logistics Drive in Pineville this year. It’s part of the over 4 million-square-foot industrial site on 288 acres being developed by Beacon Partners.

The Seattle-based e-commerce giant has several sites in the Charlotte area, including four fulfillment centers — two in Charlotte, and one each in Kannapolis and Concord, as well as a sorting center in Charlotte and Concord, a processing facility in Charlotte, two delivery stations in Charlotte and a Prime Now site in Charlotte, the Observer previously reported.

Amazon has more than 12,500 full- and part-time workers in North Carolina.

This story was originally published August 7, 2021 at 6:30 AM.