Overview
- Leaked planning papers cited by the New York Times outline a push to automate roughly 75% of operations, projecting up to 600,000 U.S. roles left unfilled by 2033 and about 160,000 by 2027.
- The documents tie the drive to unit‑cost gains of about $0.30 per package and roughly $12.6 billion in savings from 2025–2027, prompting warnings about broader labor effects from economists such as Daron Acemoglu.
- Amazon says the materials reflect the perspective of a single team and not company strategy and notes plans to hire about 250,000 seasonal workers.
- The report describes a proposed messaging shift that avoids terms like automation or AI in favor of neutral phrases such as advanced technology or cobots, a characterization Amazon disputes.
- Newer facilities such as Shreveport run with roughly a quarter fewer staff and are being used as a blueprint for about 40 sites, with older centers like Stone Mountain projected to cut around 1,200 roles while increasing throughput.