Purdue President Mitch Daniels (second from left) and Paul Ryder (center), Amazon vice president for media and student programs, talk with students and staff in the new Amazon@Purdue site in the Krach Leadership Center. It is Amazon’s first-ever staffed customer order pickup and drop-off location. (Purdue University photo/Charles Jischke)

Amazon held a grand opening today of Amazon@Purdue, the company’s first ever staffed order pickup and drop-off location, housed in the Krach Leadership Center on Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus.

Amazon@Purdue will give students a convenient, money-saving option for receiving textbooks and other supplies from Amazon, as well as a simple way to return text rentals and other orders.

Amazon student and prime members at Purdue will also get free one day shipping on textbooks sent to the campus area and free one day pickup on more than one million items when shipped to Amazon@Purdue.

“Our goal in working with Amazon has been to make books and other needed supplies more affordable for our students, as we have with tuition and room and board,” said Mitch Daniels, Purdue president. “The opening of the Amazon@Purdue location adds convenience to the mix.”

The opening of Amazon@Purdue starts the next phase of the collaboration announced by Purdue and Amazon last August, in which Amazon returns to Purdue a percentage of eligible sales from customers who have ordered through purdue.amazon.com, including purchases made by faculty, staff and alumni. Purdue plans to use the proceeds for its affordability and accessibility initiatives for students.

A second Amazon@Purdue location will open this summer in the Memorial Union.

Amazon has similar arrangements with the University of California, Davis, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Source: Purdue University