I have written before about Amazon's plans to replace employees with robots in its warehouses (see Strategic CSR – Amazon). What I find illuminating about the article in the url below is that it quantifies the economic impact of the plan, very specifically, and in two ways. First, in terms of the number of employees the robots will ensure Amazon does not need to hire:
"Amazon is reportedly leaning into automation plans that will enable the company to avoid hiring more than half a million US workers. … Amazon is hoping its robots can replace more than 600,000 jobs it would otherwise have to hire in the United States by 2033, despite estimating it'll sell about twice as many products over the period."
Second, it quantifies the impact on Amazon's cost to deliver each package:
"Documents reportedly show that Amazon's robotics team is working towards automating 75 percent of the company's entire operations, and expects to ditch 160,000 US roles that would otherwise be needed by 2027. This would save about 30 cents on every item that Amazon warehouses and delivers to customers, with automation efforts expected to save the company $12.6 billion from 2025 to 2027."
The drive for efficiency at Amazon is fascinating, and no doubt creates a lot of value for society. Equally, I wonder what Amazon's customers would say if we asked whether they would be willing to pay an additional 30 cents for each package delivered in order to secure 600,000 jobs.
Take care
David
David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (6e)
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Amazon hopes to replace 600,000 US workers with robots, according to leaked documents
By Jess Weatherbed
October 21, 2025
The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/news/803257/amazon-robotics-automation-replace-600000-human-jobs
