Amazon Plans Dozens of US Warehouses in Rural Expansion
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Amazon.com Inc. plans to build dozens of warehouses to serve rural areas in the U.S. before the end of next year, growing its footprint as the company works to rely less on other carriers.
The firm said it expects to have about 210 delivery stations up and running as part of a broad effort to establish a dedicated rural delivery network that began in 2020. It operated about 70 such facilities at the end of 2023, Amazon spokesperson Alexa Clark said, declining to specify say how many the company operates today. By the end of 2026, Amazon said, it will have invested $4 billion total in the project.
The largest online retailer has spent the past decade building a massive logistics operation that includes hundreds of warehouses in and around major cities and a network of bespoke contractors that hire drivers who pilot blue Amazon-branded vans.
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Businesses across sectors have meanwhile faced pressure to announce U.S. spending pledges since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, vowing to revive the economy and bring back American jobs. Major tech companies in particular, including Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp., have laid out plans to spend hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. Amazon executives earlier this year discussed trying to make an announcement with Trump about the company’s own U.S. spending, Bloomberg has reported.
For rural areas, Amazon historically handed off most of shipments to carriers like the the U.S. Postal Service or UPS Inc. UPS said this week that it expected to cut 20,000 jobs this year and close dozens of facilities as it reduces shipments for Amazon. The e-commerce giant estimates the rural network initiative will have created 100,000 jobs, including the direct employees who staff Amazon’s warehouses and drivers who are employed by contractors.
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UPS ranks No. 1Ìýon theÌýTransport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriersÌýin North America and No. 3 on theÌýTT Top 50 list of the largest global freight companies.ÌýUPS Supply Chain Solutions ranks No. 5Ìýon theÌýTT Top 100 list of the largest logistics companiesÌýin North America. USPS ranks No. 4 on the global freight TT50.
Bloomberg reported earlier in April that Amazon was considering a $15 billion warehouse expansion, including delivery hubs, a move that would reverse the company’s post-pandemic construction slowdown.
Amazon.com Inc. ranks No. 1Ìýon theÌýTransport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companiesÌýin North America, No. 12 on theÌýTT Top 100 list of the largest private carriersÌýand No. 1 on theÌýTop 50 global freight list.
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