Amazon.com, Inc. confirmed plans to open two fulfillment centers in Hillsborough County and Lakeland, Fla., that will each be more than 1 million square feet. Amazon will create more than 1,000 full-time jobs in the state when these fulfillment centers open in the state of Florida.
“We look forward to offering more than 1,000 full-time jobs with comprehensive benefits at our new fulfillment centers in Hillsborough County and Lakeland, Florida,” said Mike Roth, Amazon’s vice president of North America operations. “We appreciate the state, city and county officials who have worked with us to bring these fulfillment centers to Florida. We’re excited to join the community, bringing great jobs and investment to the area.”
Amazon fulfillment center jobs pay on average 30 percent more than traditional retail jobs and that doesn’t even include the stock grants that full-time employees receive. Amazon employees receive comprehensive benefits, including healthcare starting on day one, 401(k) and company stock awards. Amazon also offers full-time employees innovative programs like Career Choice, where the company will pre-pay up to 95 percent of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon. Since the program’s launch last summer, employees are pursuing degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming and radiology, to name a few.
“I would like to thank Amazon for recognizing that Florida’s business-friendly environment we’ve helped create is the perfect place for their latest expansion,” said Florida Governor Rick Scott. “On behalf of all Floridians, we welcome Amazon and the great jobs and opportunities that their expansion brings to Florida families.”
At the Lakeland facility, Amazon employees will pick, pack and ship large items to customers, such as kayaks, televisions and more. At the Hillsborough location, employees will send smaller items to customers—anything from books, electronics and consumer goods, to name a few.
“Amazon’s decision to invest in Florida is yet another vote of confidence in the state’s business climate. The distribution facilities in Hillsborough County and Lakeland are incredibly important for those regions as well as the state,” said Secretary of Commerce and President and CEO of Enterprise Florida Gray Swoope. “This announcement signifies that Florida has the infrastructure, workforce and business-friendly climate needed to support companies like Amazon. We are extremely fortunate in Florida to have announced numerous game-changing competitive job projects over the last two years, and we look forward to watching Amazon grow in our state.”
The Hillsborough County project will be developed by Seefried Development Management, Inc. and Johnson Development Associates, Inc. will develop the Lakeland site. USAA Real Estate Company is the landlord for both projects. To learn more about working at an Amazon fulfillment center, visit www.amazonfulfillmentcareers.com.
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the world’s best-selling and most advanced e-reader. It features new display technology with higher contrast, the next generation built-in light, a faster processor, the latest touch technology, and exclusive new features designed from the ground up for readers. Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, features improved fonts and faster page turns. The new Kindle Fire HDX features a stunning exclusive 7” or 8.9” HDX display, a quad-core 2.2 GHz processor, 2x more memory, and 11 hours of battery life, as well as exclusive new features of Fire OS 3.0 including X-Ray for Music, Second Screen, Prime Instant Video downloads, and the revolutionary new Mayday button. The all-new Kindle Fire HD includes an HD display, high-performance processor and dual speakers at a breakthrough price.