KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Red Stag Fulfillment quietly works behind the scenes to help consumers receive the packages they order online as quickly as possible.
"What a lot of people don't realize is that Knoxville is an ideal, centrally-located spot in the country from which to fulfill orders," Jake Rheude, vice president of marketing at Red Stag Fulfillment, said.
2020 has been its busiest year since opening in 2013, and at a time when unemployment rates remain historically high, they're adding more than 150 new jobs over the course of 12-18 months; 75 will be before the end of the year.
"Our community obviously has been hit hard, like a lot of other communities, especially with COVID happening. For us to be able to expand during this time and provide some jobs for people who maybe have lost their jobs, it's just a really exciting time," Jeanie Kohl, director of human resources, said.
Red Stag Fulfillment is an invisible middleman for online consumers.
When you place an order from a business' website, it's Red Stag Fulfillment's role to ship it to you. Rheude said they specialize in heavy, dense, and large items, like the Pop-A-Shot at-home basketball arcade games based out of Illinois.
"In March, when everything kind of started to shut down, our sales took off. Sales have been much, much higher this year." Tony Stucker, the owner of Pop-A-Shot, said, adding that families were looking for at-home entertainment.
Stucker switched a lot of his inventory to Red Stag Fulfillment from Amazon when the e-commerce giant imposed restrictions in order to prioritize health-related products.
"Going into the fourth quarter of the holiday period, it's a similar type of thing. This year, they (Amazon) really limited what we can send them. And, so Red Stag can be vital, both for our business and to get those things out there," Stucker said.
Rheude said 2020 is expected to be a record-breaking holiday season for online shopping, and the company's new warehouse will help them expand to new businesses. That should get packages to your doorstep faster.
Red Stag Fulfillment is hiring immediately for several open positions. You can find them HERE.