Amazon has said it would be spending $4 billion by the end of 2026 on expanding deliveries in small towns in rural America. This is part of an attempt to bring faster shipping times to more parts of the U.S. Once this expansion is complete, more than 200 delivery stations will be added, tripling the size of Amazon’s rural delivery network, the company said. The move will bring products closer to customers, and cut average delivery times “in half,” Amazon added.
Udit Madan, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations stated, “At a time where many logistics providers are backing away from serving rural customers because of cost to serve, we are stepping up our investment to make their lives easier and better.”
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Amazon also said it plans to create over 170 jobs at each site once the facilities opened. Once this expansion is complete, Amazon’s network will be able to deliver over a billion more packages each year to customers living in over 13,000 zip codes spanning 1,200,000 square miles — an area the size of Alaska, California, and Texas combined.
This announcement comes as Amazon is set to report first-quarter earnings. Amazon also recently drew the ire of the White House for reportedly planning to display how much of an item’s cost is due to tariffs. Amazon said the plan was “not going to happen” and it had only considered such a move for products on its discount storefront, called Haul. Several tech companies, including Apple, IBM and Nvidia have pledged to boost spending in the U.S. since Trump took office in January and laid out plans to boost manufacturing and create more jobs in America.
Amazon has also been working towards speeding up delivery services for the past few years. It’s been able to do so by building up a massive network of warehouses across the country. The company still relies on carriers for a portion of its deliveries, including the U.S. Postal Service.