Amazon to spend billions to increase deliveries in rural America

People who live in rural towns and villages in America get ready to see more of the famous

blue Amazon vans rolling around town. The e-commerce giant announced it plans to spend

about $4 billion by the end of next year to expand deliveries to rural areas

The goal is to bring faster shipping times to more parts of the country

The company announced it will add more than 200 delivery stations, thus boosting its rural delivery count

Each delivery station is expected to have roughly 170 employees. In doing so, Amazon hopes to cut delivery time in half in those locations

CNBC quotes Amazon's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations as saying, we are stepping up our investment to make lives easier and better when it comes to serving rural customers

Amazon has been focusing on speeding up deliveries for the past few years

with the company hustling to get packages to customers in one day

or in some cases, in just hours, despite the two-day standard. In addition, Amazon has increased its Delivery Service Partner Program

which includes thousands of third-party contractors. In 2023 Amazon started its Amazon Hub Delivery Program It teams up with small businesses that go into local neighborhoods to deliver packages The goal was to sign up 2 partners in nearly two dozen states to do the

deliveries. Amazon still relies on other carriers for some of its deliveries, but even that is

changing. UPS announced this week it is cutting 20,000 jobs at more than 70 facilities in

anticipation of less volume from Amazon. Though it is still the world's largest package delivery

company, UPS is expecting a reduction in the need for shipping services due to the Trump tariffs

and their effect on trade. CNBC reports that UPS has decided to forego providing a full-year

economic outlook due to economic uncertainty. It also faces a likely drop in the volume of

packages from e-commerce companies Timu and Xi'an, which have strong ties to China. Tariffs start

Friday, May 2nd, on many products from those companies that were previously duty-free

As for Amazon, back in January, it reached a deal with UPS to reduce its volume by more than 50

by the second half of 2026. Now comes word that during that same time frame, Amazon will be beefing

up its own delivery system in rural America. For more unbiased updates, download the Straight

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