Amazon announced a $4 billion plan to triple the size of its rural delivery network by the end of 2026, promising to make shipping for small-town Americans faster and easier.
“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,” Udit Madan, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations, wrote in a corporate post.
Related: Are Amazon’s Prices Going Up? Here’s How the Company’s CEO Answered Questions About Tariffs.
Madan says the plan to create 200 new rural-focused facilities will allow the company 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,” and promised to cut delivery time to those areas in half.
He says the new Amazon stations will create an estimated 34,000 new jobs, “plus many more through driving opportunities through the DSP and Amazon Flex programs.”
It’s good news for job seekers and investors, writes Barchart columnist Caleb Naysmith: “Announcing such a massive expansion of their logistics network could signal the company isn’t worried about rising costs associated with tariffs, and still in a growth and re-investment mindset. If that’s the case, investors’ worries about tariffs’ impact are likely to be easily shaken off.”
Speaking of tariffs, earlier this week, Amazon drew harsh criticism from the White House after Punchbowl News reported that Amazon would start displaying tariff price increases on its product pages. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called it “hostile and political.”
President Trump reportedly called Bezos about the tariff price listing plan after it became known, and later, an Amazon spokesperson said that it was misreported. “This was never approved and not going to happen,” they said.
Following the call and Amazon’s public refute, President Trump told reporters, “Jeff Bezos is very nice,” adding, “He solved the problem very quickly. He did the right thing. Good guy.”
