A look inside Amazon's Pontiac facility during Prime Day

A look inside Amazon's Pontiac facility during Prime Day

PONTIAC, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) – It's the last day to snag those last-minute deals for Amazon Prime Day.

It's the second largest event of the year for Amazon, in comparison to peak time, which is from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Alysia Burgio/CBS Detroit

At the Amazon Robotics Fulfillment Center in Pontiac, General Manager Fred McPherson says it's all hands on deck.

"Whether it's associates in the fulfillment center, whether it's I.T., whether it's HR, our transportation team … really it's about making sure that we're working to be able to fulfill customer orders," said McPherson.

With nearly 50 million items of inventory at this location alone and the capacity to ship as many as 855,000 packages a day, McPherson says staff are hustling around the clock.

Alysia Burgio/CBS Detroit

"Exciting time for our associates so we're definitely keeping things fun and exciting as we fulfill customer orders," he said.

Prime Day is one of Amazon's busiest times during the summer.

"A lot of great deals going on," McPherson stated.

Alysia Burgio/CBS Detroit

From pans, toys, cast iron skillets, and vacuums, to even TVs, McPherson says there's a bargain for everyone.

"Some may be as little as 15%, some 40, 50% off," he said.

Once orders are placed, there are over 6,000 robots at this Pontiac facility that help move inventory around to make sure it gets where it needs to go.

Alysia Burgio/CBS Detroit

"Some may go to local sites such as Pontiac or Wixom or Detroit, and then others can go globally. They can go to Western Europe, Asia, all over the world," McPherson said. 

It's a fulfillment center ready to meet the demand of online shoppers.

Fred McPherson, General Manager at the Amazon Robotics Fulfillment Center in Pontiac speaking to CBS News Detroit Reporter Alysia Burgio about Prime Day 2023. Alysia Burgio/CBS Detroit

"For customers that are out there on the fence thinking about different Prime deals out there, we definitely have a lot of inventory. We can certainly fulfill it," said McPherson.

The Amazon Robotics Fulfillment Center in Pontiac opened in September of 2021. It's 3.8 million square feet and has more than 3,000 employees.

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