BILLINGS — The city of Billings officially celebrated the opening of its new Amazon delivery station on Monday. This facility, known as MT3, is only the second of its kind in Montana, and the ribbon-cutting ceremony highlighted the impact the center has already had on the local economy and community.
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Amazon’s $23 million investment in the 40,000-square-foot building located at 6767 Tun Tavern Road, which opened in late October 2024, promises to add more than 100 jobs to the region. Since its opening, the facility has already employed around 80 people and provided work for over 90 drivers.
Related: Billings employees in state's second Amazon distribution center gear up for busy season
“We are really proud of our investment here in the community," said Tareq Wafaie, the economic policy manager for Amazon in Montana. “That helps us be an active steward of the community by providing jobs, providing a good opportunity to help make our customers happy by substantially reducing delivery times.”
Along with the ribbon-cutting, city leaders were offered a tour of the delivery facility and process. Packages from fulfillment centers are shipped in and sorted to be distributed to their destination within a 60-minute radius. The station will now make Amazon deliveries faster.
“The packages usually arrive during the night or the day before, and then we start about 2:30 in the morning and then they're out the same day. So it's usually about 24 hours or so coming from the fulfillment center," said Gail Jones, the center's site lead.
Over the past year, Amazon has brought nearly 300 jobs to the state and is expecting to continue expanding its workforce. The center’s leaders are particularly focused on hiring additional staff in the coming weeks to meet the seasonal demand for Prime deliveries.
“Many of our members and our associates are actually from here and have strong roots to the community and to the state, so we're just looking forward to connecting even more," said Jones. “Prime (Day) will be coming up before too long and we will be hiring for that as well."
Erin and David Tiedeman are delivery service providers for the facility, meaning they run the small van service that delivers the packages and partner with Amazon. The couple, who work side-by-side, are pleased with the opportunities that Amazon’s presence has brought to them.
“We start the morning together and we finish at night together and I like it. I wouldn't change anything. I couldn't have a better partner," said the Tiedemans. “For us to get to partner with someone like Amazon is, I mean, how often you get that kind of opportunity to be (in your) hometown and get to do that with Amazon?”
The service has 57 vans, with 43 usually running at one time. On Monday alone, they delivered 8,000 packages.
“It's an everyday job, but we're kind of getting to the point now where we've got a lot of people and got a lot of help," said David.
“Packages don't stop. We still load, we still deliver," added Erin. "They can have up to 250 packages and it's in and out loading up and down, up and down every day, but it's a good workout."
As the facility settles into its operations, residents can look forward to faster deliveries and more local job opportunities.
“We've had wonderful support from the community, and most of that comes because we are delivering packages and surprising and delighting our customers at a much faster rate," said Wafaie.
