A FAMILY AFFAIR
Hundreds of new logistics jobs have come to Amazon’s delivery station since September when the facility opened in Pontiac.
The global retailer launched the site with six delivery service partners,
small businesses that contract with Amazon to bring packages to customer’s doorsteps.
Today that number stands at 12, including one family-owned business run by a former Beaumont nurse.
Jacqueline Nelson, 67 of Novi, is leading one of the original teams to begin delivering from the 127-acre
site. Under NW Premier Logistics LLC, Nelson has hired 40 employees alongside her husband, daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter.
It was never her intention, after spending 32 years working in the medical field, to start a small delivery business. Nelson’s husband was also retired from his career in the Detroit
area police force. The pair were looking to start a new chapter in their lives and find a way to spend more time with their three kids and grandchildren.
It was their daughter, a 46-year-old social worker, who suggested becoming an Amazon delivery partner. It’s at least a $10,000 start up depending on the
company’s size and posed a steep learning curve for Nelson.
“We wanted to do something that we could do together, that would grow and become a legacy of working with young people,” Nelson said. “My husband and I realized that while we were both working, we missed a lot of things. We were essential employees our whole lives, and through the pandemic, I’ve learned the real meaning of that.”
With the help of her daughters and granddaughter, Nelson started building the multigenerational business. Now, she and her husband get to see their family much more often. Nelson arrives at the station on delivery mornings at 7 a.m. to check the packages, run financial reports and manage her fleet of 24 vehicles before drivers begin to arrive at 10 a.m.
Beyond her family, Nelson’s also found a personal value in hiring young
people in need of work or those who are underemployed. NW Premier Logistics pays its delivery associates $16.25 per hour.
“Through my church and different avenues, we know a lot of different people and people who find it difficult to get jobs. This gives them a skill. It just makes sense,” Nelson said. “We have employees that I know, this job and the things they’re doing, it’s giving them a sense of connection and intrinsic
value, to be able to accomplish something. That’s monumental to them.”
In total, Amazon plans to bring 1,500 jobs to the area with the delivery station and a $271.6 million fulfillment center. The center is still under construction just behind the delivery station. It’s expected to open sometime this year with 823,000 square feet of space between Opdyke Road and Featherstone Street.