Holiday Procrastinator? Minneapolis' 'Amazon Prime Now' Hub Delivers
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- If you have not finished shopping for Christmas gifts, you are not alone. There are plenty of procrastinators.
And once again, Amazon is offering a way to help out.
The online retailer gave WCCO a look inside their "Amazon Prime Now" hub in Minneapolis on Thursday.
Tens of thousands of items are stored in the facility, and are made available for one-hour delivery.
We discovered during a tour that the selection includes much more than holiday gifts.
"This is the place where we have tens of thousands of items that customers in the Twin Cities can get in two hours, or one hour or less," said Amazon spokesperson Leah Bibbo. "So it's the fastest delivery option for Amazon."
And just what are those items?
"Pretty much everything you can think of, from daily essentials like toilet paper and laundry detergent, through toys, electronics, televisions," she said.
To use the service, you must have an Amazon Prime membership, which costs $99 a year. You then download a special app or go to the Amazon Prime Now website.
The fee for a one-hour delivery is $7.99. If you choose a two-hour delivery, it's free.
"Prime Now is really a dream for procrastinators, and so we are delivering right up until 11:59 p.m. on Christmas Eve," Bibbo said.
Inside the Minneapolis hub, workers are busy filling those online orders and packing bags.
"We have all these items on shelves that the technology knows where each individual item is. So when an order comes in, one of our associates gets the order, and he has it in his little handhelds there," she said.
The bags are then handed off drivers who deliver them to homes across the Twin Cities metro area.
So what are the most popular items?
"Video games, books and then, of course, electronics are very, very top sellers," Bibbo said. "The Amazon Echo device was one of our most popular items last year for the holidays, also the Fire tablets and Kindles."
The hub is stocked with lots of foods, like ice cream and egg nog, and even frozen waffles.
Your order must be a minimum of $20. The drivers use their own personal vehicles instead of those white Amazon vans.
Amazon has hired thousands of seasonal workers to meet the demand of the holiday shopping season, and they are still hiring people.