Amazon’s rural push brings fast deliveries — and jobs — to remote Wyoming

Amazon is spending $4 billion this year to expand its reach with same-day and next-day deliveries to some of America’s most remote places, including in Wyoming. For rural residents and small businesses, the fast deliveries are game-changing.

A birthday girl and her family were waiting at the end of a very rural road with their birthday hats on when a driver for Erin Tiedeman’s company Righteous Routes Logistics showed up. The company is among those on the front line of Amazon’s push into rural America, bringing fast deliveries to remote locations mostly in Montana, but with some routes also in northern Wyoming. “You get notified when the delivery is on the way,” Tiedeman said. “So, the entire family was out there.”

That family’s reaction is playing out all over Tiedeman’s routes. People living in the middle of nowhere are showing their appreciation by baking cinnamon rolls to thank drivers. Ranchers also call Tiedeman to offer help any time a driver becomes stuck. “Everyone wants to be on the cinnamon roll route,” Tiedeman said. “People may not have a lot in the dollar perspective out here, but they give from their heart.”

Although now everyone’s all smiles, there was caution when deliveries first began. “Having a van approach out in a rural area, there was definitely uncertainty at first,” Tiedeman said. But caution quickly gave way once people received their packages much earlier than expected. For many on her route, fast rural deliveries are truly game-changing. “We have a lot of people who run small businesses out of their homes,” she said. “To be able to just have what they need delivered there and not have to drive somewhere or wait seven to 10 days, it’s incredible.”

Amazon opened Rural Super Rural delivery centers in Gillette and Casper in October 2024 and will soon open another in Rock Springs. By the end of 2026, Amazon plans to triple its rural delivery network, expanding to more than 200 locations in over 4,000 smaller cities, towns and rural communities. At the present pace, Amazon says it should be able to ship packages to every U.S. ZIP code within four years.

In Wyoming, Amazon’s investment totals more than $70 million since 2010, supporting more than 300 jobs and contributing over $60 million to the state’s economy. Tiedeman said her business, based near Billings, now employs 140 people, many from the rural areas she covers. “These are good-paying jobs,” she said. “It’s steady work. I offer benefits. They get paid time off.”

Amazon says independent sellers — many of them small- to medium-sized businesses — make up 60% of sales from its online stores. “In Wyoming, independent sellers sold more than 22 million items through Amazon’s store in 2025, with average sales of $225,000 per seller,” an Amazon spokesperson said.

Among those sellers is Maven, an optics manufacturer headquartered in Lander. Founders Mike Lilygren and Cade Maestas started the company from their garage — the “Garage Mahal,” as Lilygren calls it — thanks to Amazon’s network of tools that enabled them to sell products anywhere in the U.S. Amazon’s platform is still 12% of their business, but they’ve since built a headquarters overlooking the Wind River Mountains with 23 employees and counting. The company recently won awards for its optics.

Some economists have raised concerns that Amazon’s expansion could squeeze out brick-and-mortar shops in rural communities. But Tiedeman and the businesses on her route hope faster service will mean more sales and, ultimately, more new jobs. “We’re delivering everything from the tiniest computer chips to car seats and exercise bikes,” she said. The deliveries have also included medicines and household essentials like cat litter, pet food and toilet paper. For rural Wyoming residents who once waited a week or more for packages, the change has been dramatic. And for the drivers who bring them, the gratitude is unmistakable. “This is my Amazon package?” customers often ask with a puzzled look. “But I just ordered this …” Tiedeman gives them a chipper smile and says, “Yep, it’s all here.”