An online retailing behemoth that’s often criticized for putting the squeeze on small businesses is now providing welcome income to certain shopkeepers in Leelanau County.

Amazon is the country’s largest online retailer (and second in any form after Walmart). Its massive growth over the last decade in particular has put substantial pressure on brick-and-mortar retailers, particularly small, independent operations who already have a tough time holding their own against larger competitors.

But some small businesses are now taking advantage of the Amazon Hub program, in which the online giant regularly dumps packages at their doorstep and gives them a small fee for each package they deliver.

Will Harper, a Northport village council member and owner of North Shore Outfitters, gets $1.50 for each package he delivers within a three-mile radius of his shop. It’s a welcome boost of income during the winter months when he normally closes his store.

“I never thought I’d find myself working for Jeff Bezos, and a lot of my friends give me a hard time about it," he tells The Ticker. “It’s ironic that this company that has done so much harm to small businesses is, in a small way, helping us keep our lights on in the wintertime. And frankly, since I’m closed anyway, it’s something to do.”

Harper got involved in the program earlier this year after seeing an email in his very crowded inbox that promised a great opportunity for his business. 

“It’s one of those things you never click on, but for some reason I did,” he says.

After an Amazon team contacted Harper and got him approved, it was off to the races. He now spends a few hours several days a week delivering upwards of 500 packages a week. He gets asked about this work a lot by people who would love to do it, he says, but most aren’t eligible.

“To qualify to become a hub, you have to have a storefront and all the normal licenses and insurance of a small business,” Harper says. “I’d say the number one conversation I have with people is when they want to do this out of their homes, but can’t. And then when I tell them they can’t, their next question is: Can I be one of your drivers?”

It’s also not for every business, at least not all the time. Leelanau Cheese, one of the county’s most popular foodie destinations, served as a hub for about a month and is now taking an indefinite pause. Though they had a bit of a payment dispute, managing partner Gary Smith says, the far bigger issue was finding the time to get the packages out.

“We’re still not 100 percent closing the door on it,” Smith tells The Ticker. “If a business is scrappy enough and has more time to dedicate resources to it, it’s a really intriguing concept.”

Trine Allington is also taking a pause. She works as a waitress in Traverse City, but was able to take advantage of the program because her parents have a trucking company that’s registered at her Suttons Bay address. She started in October delivering 30-40 packages a day, and when she wanted to up her package count, she worked with Amazon to expand her range from three to five miles.

“I was making that couple hundred extra bucks a week that I wanted,” she tells The Ticker. “I was tired of working double shifts (as a waitress) and this made up for that double that I didn’t want to do.”

She really liked it a lot. Then winter came.

“Once it started snowing, I ended up in the ditch, had to call a tow truck. So that wasn’t a good experience,” she says. “And in Leelanau County, there’s some pretty severe driveways, and that (also) caused some anxiety for me.”

Allington hopes to pick it back up in the spring when things are once again safe and accessible.

“I’m 55 years old, I have a full time job, and I’m not going to walk a quarter of a mile down someone’s driveway – or up someone’s driveway – to deliver a package for $1.50,” she says.

Regional Amazon spokesman Scott Seroka tells The Ticker there are 51 hubs serviced out of Traverse City. He didn’t immediately have a number for the entire country, but previously published reports said Amazon hoped to have at least 2,500 of these partners nationwide by the end of 2023.

Seroka says hub delivery provides valuable support to the company’s rural delivery network, which also utilizes all the major carriers along with designated company drivers.

“It really just helps us fill some gaps in our network,” he says. “These folks that take on the hub deliveries for us really do not only us a great service of expanding our delivery area and helping us get packages to customers more quickly, but also serving (their) communities so that they have the same access to Amazon as everyone else.”

Photo: Harper loading up Amazon packages at North Shore Outfitters in Northport.