Overview
- The New York Times reports that internal Amazon documents outline a plan to automate roughly three-quarters of logistics tasks across its U.S. operations.
- The materials project avoiding the need to hire about 600,000 U.S. workers over the next decade as sales volumes grow.
- The documents cite eliminating 160,000 roles by 2027 with estimated savings of about $0.30 per item and roughly $12.6 billion from 2025 to 2027.
- Amazon already operates at large scale with about 1 million robots, mechanical assistance on roughly 75% of shipments, and a decade-long productivity rise from about 175 to 3,870 packages per employee.
- Leaked guidance describes avoiding terms like automation or AI in favor of words such as cobots to mitigate reputational risk, a characterization the company disputes, while economist Daron Acemoglu warns such automation could make Amazon a net job destroyer.