'Sky's the limit' for workers at New Stanton's Amazon warehouse

Inside Amazon’s massive 1.1 million-square-foot New Stanton warehouse, a constant hum of moving parts and people fills the air as packages travel along a seemingly endless matrix of metal rollers.

The decidedly modern facility, with a nonstop flow of packages, has an equally large appetite for workers.

TribLive received an exclusive look inside the $120 million facility this week. It employs about 600 people, with more being added daily in an aggressive recruiting effort for seasonal staff. The warehouse, an inbound package-processing facility, has been in operation since summer 2024.

It is above Glenn Fox Road on a hilltop overlooking the Pennsylvania Turnpike near the New Stanton exit. Massive amounts of earth were moved a few years ago to create a flat hilltop for the white behemoth, which sparked speculation about the site’s occupant. Amazon would not confirm it would occupy the warehouse until its familiar logo was attached to the building.

“Our New Stanton cross-dock facility represents a critical hub in Amazon’s national fulfillment network, enabling us to efficiently move customer orders throughout Western Pennsylvania and beyond,” said Maura Kennedy, senior manager of economic development for Amazon in Pennsylvania.

The inbound package processing facilities serve as a logistics hub where shipments from various suppliers converge and quickly continue to their destinations, Amazon said.

When a product arrives, it’s unloaded at receiving docks, immediately scanned, then sorted based on final destination, and transported across the facility floor — often on conveyor systems of metal rollers — to the appropriate outbound loading dock.

For those who spend their workweek inside the sprawling warehouse, it feels like family among the workers, said employee Connie Bottinelli of Connellsville.

Bottinelli, 46, is no stranger to warehouse work, having worked at the UPS facility about a half-mile away and also driving a water-hauling truck in the West Texas oil fields. She praised the facility’s cleanliness and bright atmosphere since she started working there last summer.

Working in a controlled environment, she added, is much better than her old job in the blistering Texas heat.

The hours are flexible, and she can find herself working different jobs on different days.

“You can learn a lot of different things,” Bottinelli said.

Competition and compensation

The nearby decades-old UPS facility still operates but ended its day-shift package-sorting operations in April 2024, eliminating 198 part-time and eight full-time jobs.

For such a large space, the Amazon warehouse — built by SunCap Property Group of Charlotte, N.C. — is relatively quiet, save for the constant noise of boxes traveling along the many metal rollers. Workers and equipment fill the interior as far as the eye can see.

“This is the beginning of the journey of your package,” said Marc Heintzman, an Amazon spokesman. “The boxes don’t stay in one place very long.”

The processing model in place allows companies to consolidate multiple smaller shipments into full truckloads heading to the same region — often to Amazon’s regional fulfillment centers for distribution. It optimizes transportation efficiency by private contractors and reduces handling costs throughout the supply chain, Amazon said.

Packages are unloaded from inbound tractor-trailers on one side of the building, destined for trucks waiting at loading docks on the other side. Along the way, workers break down larger packages from manufacturers and vendors, place items in appropriate plastic totes and then put them in smaller boxes and onto the conveyor system.

Packages will be taken to fulfillment centers, primarily in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, but also in the South, said Heintzman.

While workers and the public call it the Amazon warehouse at New Stanton, to the company, it is identified as LBE1. A large circular sign at the entrance reminds people of this designation. The LBE stands for the closest airport’s International Air Transport Association code, which is currently Arnold Palmer Regional Airport (formerly Latrobe Airport), Heintzman said.

Workforce expanding

Seasonal workforce expectations in Pennsylvania reflect a slight but steady growth trend in key industries that rely on temporary hiring, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry’s 2023-25 short-term forecast. Specifically, both the retail trade and transportation and warehousing sectors are projected to see positive employment changes of 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively.

This trend highlights the continuing shift toward e-commerce, with warehouse, logistics and fulfillment jobs experiencing robust demand for seasonal workers, Amazon said.

Amazon is no different, as the company has had recruiters at the local PA CareerLink office since Sept. 22, according to Janice Albright, site administrator for PA CareerLink in Youngwood.

“I’ve seen a lot (of job candidates). It’s been constant. People are coming every day,” Albright said of prospective job candidates interviewing at the CareerLink office.

Amazon anticipates expanding its workforce with 11,500 seasonal jobs across the state and 1,000 of that seasonal work in the Greater Pittsburgh area.

The competition for warehouse workers is fierce. Last month, Amazon announced it was increasing the pay of its regular warehouse workers to more than $23 an hour, with the average total compensation — wages and benefits — at $30 an hour.

Amazon is offering seasonal employees up to 19 hours in a workweek, with flexible schedules, as well as full-time seasonal work for those willing to work overnight shifts from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., Albright said. The pay scale for seasonal workers ranges from $19.50 an hour to $21.25 an hour, she said. That seasonal workforce can remain on the job for up to 11 months.

Bottinelli said she likes her job, the easy commute from Connellsville and room for career growth at the warehouse.

“The sky’s the limit,” Bottinelli said.