Amazon’s Next Big Shift: Automate Most Warehouses, Sidestep Hundreds of Thousands of Hires

With input from the New York Times, the Verge, Gizmodo.

Amazon is gearing up for a massive automation push that could reshape its workforce. Internal strategy papers and exec briefings reviewed by reporters indicate the company aims to automate roughly 75% of its operations, letting it avoid hiring more than 160,000 US workers by 2027 — and over 600,000 by 2033 — even as sales are expected to double. The math: about 30 cents saved on every item picked, packed, and delivered.

The blueprint is already on the floor. At Amazon’s highly automated Shreveport, La., facility, about a thousand robots handle much of the flow, allowing headcount to run roughly a quarter lower than a traditional site. Amazon plans to replicate that design in about 40 buildings by 2027, moving toward “near lights-out” same-day hubs and warehouses where humans touch far fewer packages.

Internally, teams have discussed soft-pedaling terms like “automation” and “AI” in favor of “advanced technology” and “cobots,” while bolstering community engagement to blunt backlash in places that may see fewer jobs. Economists say if Amazon makes this profitable at scale, rivals from Walmart to UPS will follow.

Amazon disputes any single, sweeping plan. The company says the leaked materials are incomplete and don’t reflect its overall hiring strategy, noting it’s adding 250,000 seasonal roles and that community outreach isn’t tied to robotics. Operations chief Udit Madan argues past automation savings have funded new roles — especially tech and maintenance jobs in more advanced facilities.

Either way, with roughly a million robots already at work worldwide and a goal to expand the Shreveport model, Amazon is signaling where warehouse work is headed: fewer, more technical, and better-paid jobs maintaining the machines that do more of the moving, sorting, picking, and packing.