A leak of internal documents and interviews has put Amazon's plan to maximize automation in its logistics network. The company plans to avoid hiring more than 600.000 people in the United States by 2033 thanks to the deployment of robots and advanced systems.
Beyond the data, the debate focuses on the effect on employment, costs, and work organization. The papers speak of a target of automate up to 75% of operations, with concrete milestones and an economic impact that, on the scale of Amazon, moves millions of dollars. In Spain and Europe the discussion is not minor, due to the possible replica of the model and the current regulatory framework.
What the leaked documents say
The documents, cited by media such as The New York Times, detail intermediate goals for 2027: Amazon would aim to avoid 160.000 hires which, without automation, would be necessary. The expected efficiency translates into $0,30 less per item manipulated and an accumulated savings of $12.600 billion between 2025 and 2027.
The technological base is already deployed: a million robots operate in company facilities around the world. In addition to mobile and sorting systems, Amazon is testing more advanced solutions, including bipedal robots such as those from Agility Robotics, integrated into warehouse workflows.
According to these sources, the company seeks to transform its supply chain into a highly orchestrated circuit in which human intervention is concentrated on technical tasks, supervision and maintenance, while autonomous systems take on repetitive processes of picking, packing and moving merchandise.
Pilot centers and deployment
The Shreveport, Louisiana, warehouse serves as a laboratory: with about 1.000 robots, the template needed was a 25% lower than a comparable center without that level of automation. The roadmap foresees that, by introducing more robots, the human endowment could be reduced by about half compared to the traditional model.
Amazon intends to replicate this design in about 40 installations before 2027, while modernizing older centers. At Stone Mountain (near Atlanta), internal analyses estimate that, after the renovation, up to 1.200 fewer employees will be needed to process more items, although the company clarifies that final figures may vary.
In parallel, the group remembers that it continues hiring seasonal staff for peak demand, with campaigns totaling hundreds of thousands of temporary positions. The company insists that these documents reflect specific equipment plans and not the overall long-term recruitment strategy.
Employment, communities, and Amazon's response
The possible displacement would affect warehouse and logistics positions and would have an impact on communities that depend on those wages. Experts point out that, due to scale, Amazon could act as trendsetter for other large employers in the sector.
The company, according to the documents, has considered adjusting the language in its communication, avoiding terms such as "automation" or "AI" and adopting expressions such as "advanced technology" or "cobot" to emphasize human-machine collaboration. Amazon, however, maintains that there is no official guideline to avoid those terms.
Initiatives also appear community engagement to mitigate negative public perception, while promoting retraining pathways. Internal data cites that almost 5.000 people have passed by mechatronics programs since 2019, with a clear emphasis on robotics technicians better paid compared to manual roles.
Economists such as Daron Acemoglu They warn that if mass automation proves profitable, others will follow suit. In that scenario, Amazon would go from being a major employer to discourage net job creation in certain functions, with the consequent pressure to strengthen labor transition policies.
Implications for Spain and Europe
Europe is watching the case closely: a similar deployment could accelerate the transformation of logistics centers on the continent. In countries like Spain, where Amazon has a significant network of warehouses and deliveries, automation would put pressure on the profile conversion towards maintenance, engineering and systems supervision.
The European regulatory framework, including recent regulations on AI and safety at work, will fit in with debates on productivity, job quality, occupational health and lifelong learning. For governments and social partners, the challenge is to promote retraining programs and design incentives that promote the transition without leaving workers and territories behind.
For the business ecosystem, the equation is clear: if savings such as $0,30 per item and the operational standardization, the competitiveness of large operators would be strengthened. The key will be in establish safeguards that share the benefits of efficiency and cushion the social costs of change.
With goals such as automating up to 75% of processes, avoiding 160.000 hirings by 2027, and requiring no more than 600.000 positions by 2033, Amazon is pushing a transformation that could reconfigure global logistics. Between the savings of 12.600 billion and the impact on employment, the next decade will say if the balance between efficiency and social responsability leaning towards a new labor agreement or a large-scale replacement with more doubts than certainties.
