Amazon offering same-day delivery for first time in Sacramento area

Amazon’s new delivery center near the Sacramento airport is a first-of-its-kind for both consumers and those who care about the environment.

For consumers? The center provides Sacramento-area shoppers with same-day delivery service for the first time.

For the environment? Amazon is touting the 150,000-square-foot facility off Interstate 5 as the world’s most sustainable logistics facility, using 100% renewable energy. The company says it will be an environmental model for future Amazon fulfillment centers.

The delivery center uses a combination of robots and people to fill same-day orders for small non-nonperishable items such as pet food, computer screens and toilet paper.

A large part of the center contains floor robots, which resemble larger versions of home robot vacuum cleaners. The robots move 14-feet high pods. containing multiple shelves of hundreds of delivery items, to an area where employees pack the items for delivery.

Prior to the opening of the center — it opened in May but was opened to media on Wednesday — same-day orders from Amazon Prime in the Sacramento region were not available. The region covers a large area from Vacaville to Rocklin.

Amazon had offered same- day delivery from Amazon Prime in 90 metro areas, but not in Northern California..

A San Francisco-area same-day delivery service facility will open in the next several months.

Amazon has used faster delivery to challenge key rivals Walmart and Target, which primarily serve customers through their brick and mortar stores.

Environmental friendly considerations

Eighty percent of the energy at the new Amazon facility will be self-generated, primarily through a solar installation being installed on the roof of the one-story facility, said Ray Schmidt, the same-day center’s site leader.

But the solar installation won’t be finished until sometime next year, Schmidt said, because of supply-chain issues.

He said in the meantime Amazon is supplying 100% renewable energy to the facility through solar and wind farms. Schmidt said the facility is not using any energy from natural gas plants.

He said the center also has insulated walls and ceilings for better energy efficiency.

Amazon has asked the International Living Future Institute in Seattle to certify the logistics center as a zero carbon facility, meaning it is powered by 100% renewable energy. Amazon officials say the building must be in operation for a year before the institute makes a decision.

Institute officials did not respond to an email seeking comment.

The new building is relatively small, at least going by Amazon standards, employing around a 100 people each on three shifts. Just a mile away, a larger Amazon fulfillment center contains around 1 million square feet and employs around 1,000 workers.

“I think what is most important about this building for our customer obviously is being able to bring this type of same-day delivery to the Sacramento market,” Schmidt said. “But with climate change and the dramatic impacts it has had in California via wildfires, extreme temperatures, droughts, now is the time that we need to take bold steps in the process of sustainability. And that’s the goal of this building.”

Amazon has pledged to power 100% of its operations by renewable energy by 2025 — 5 years earlier than it had originally promised. The company said that includes corporate offices, fulfillment centers. data centers and physical stores.

Some environmental criticism

The commitment, however, does not extend to all aspects of Amazon. At larger fulfillment centers Amazon often uses a growing fleet of electric trunks for deliveries.

The same-day Sacramento center uses hundreds of private contractors using their own, mostly gas-powered cars, to deliver merchandise from the center. The practice allows Amazon to be more nimble with deliveries, but also puts numerous polluting cars on the roads.

Amazon officials did not respond to questions as to whether they have plans to require contractors to drive hybrid or electric cars or whether the company would switch to its own electric trucks.

While Amazon has portrayed itself as a leader of sustainable environmental practices in the corporate world, environmentalists have also criticized the company.

They have objected to Amazon providing cloud-computing services for oil and fossil fuel companies, donating to political candidates who have downplayed or denied climate change is occurring and for selling books from authors denying climate change.

Amazon employs more than 7,000 workers in the Sacramento region at six logistics centers.

This story was originally published October 28, 2022 at 6:00 AM.