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Amazon's 'Super Bowl' finally arrives on Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday culminates months of prep at fulfillment center in San Marcos

SAN MARCOS, Texas – If you sneaked out your credit card at work, or perhaps may still be in your pajamas browsing online for season box sets of "Friends," then you might be one of millions of consumers taking advantage of Cyber Monday.

One of the busiest places filling consumers' holiday wish lists is the new Amazon fulfillment center in San Marcos.

Related: Cyber Monday: Your sales guide

The 885,0000-square-foot center runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Miles of conveyor belts and multiple levels holds tens of millions of items waiting to ship out.

Cyber Monday is the biggest day for Amazon.

"Just like football, they prep all year for the Super Bowl. We at Amazon prep all year for Cyber Monday," Amazon spokeswoman Laura Gunning said.

The retail giant sold more than 64 million goods, or 740 a second, on Cyber Monday 2016, general manager Derek Sparks said.

Related: Cyber Monday could set a sales record

"It is a lot, right? Amazon grew very quickly. You know, there's a lot of customers. We love what we do, but I've got a big team here to help me," Sparks said.

An important part of the team is the technology. Robots, proprietary to Amazon, pick up bins and roll them back to workers to pick out the ordered goods.

"The robots are doing kind of all the walking that the associates would do, but it allows the associates to do more things we need humans to do," Gunning said.

It's organized madness. Packages get their shipping labels, and then enter a maze of ramps, slides and conveyor belts.

"I love it. You know it's finally here. You do a lot of work to prepare. You do a lot of work to plan. It's great," Sparks said.

More than 25,000 workers are getting more help as the company hires hundreds for the holiday season.

"The energy in this building is extremely high. Everybody's excited to get products out to customers," Gunning said.

The San Marcos location opened in 2016, and is now one of eight throughout Texas and 75 in the U.S.


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