People, who live in rural towns and villages in America, get ready to see more of the famous blue Amazon vans rolling around town. The e-commerce giant announced it plans to spend about $4 billion, by the end of next year, to expand deliveries to rural areas.
How many more people might be employed?
The goal is to bring faster shipping times to more parts of the country. The company announced it will add more than 200 delivery stations, thus boosting its rural delivery count. Each delivery station is expected to have roughly 170 employees. In doing so, Amazon hopes to cut delivery time in half in those locations.
CNBC quotes Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations as saying, “We are stepping up our investment to make lives easier and better,” when it comes to serving rural customers.
Amazon has been focusing on speeding up deliveries for the past few years with the company hustling to get packages to customers in one day, or in some cases just hours, despite the two-day standard.
What else has Amazon done to speed up deliveries?
In addition, Amazon has increased its delivery service partner program, which includes thousands of third-party contractors. In 2023, Amazon started its Amazon Hub Delivery program. It teams up with small businesses that go into local neighborhoods to deliver packages. The goal was to sign up 2,500 partners in nearly two dozen states to do the deliveries.
Amazon still relies on other carriers for some of its deliveries but even that is changing.
Amazon’s delivery partners
UPS announced during the week of April 27 that it is cutting 20,000 jobs at more than 70 facilities, in anticipation of less volume from Amazon.
Though it is still the world’s largest package delivery company, UPS is expecting a reduction in the need for shipping services due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the effect they may have on trade.
CNBC reports that UPS has decided to forego providing a full-year economic outlook due to uncertainty. It also faces a likely drop in the volume of packages from e-commerce companies Temu and Shein, which have strong ties to China. Tariffs start Friday, May 2, on many products from those companies that were previously duty-free.
As for Amazon, back in January it reached a deal with UPS to reduce its volume by more than 50% by the second half of 2026. During that same timeframe, Amazon will be beefing up its own delivery system in rural America.
