As America’s second largest private employer, Amazon.com Inc. Accelerating its robotic improvements. Internal documents show the company has ambitions to automate 75% of operations by 2033 and stop hiring more than 600,000 US workers while doubling sales. Based on executive interviews and strategy memos, the New York Times revelations estimate savings of $12.6 billion by 2025-2027—about 30 cents per processed item—through efficiencies in picking, packing, and delivery.

Since 2018, Amazon’s US workforce has grown to 1.2 million, but its robotics arm alone is projected to lose 160,000 employees by 2027. A board presentation in March urged “doing more with less” that would reduce automation costs by $10 billion by 2024 while also aiming to keep hiring rates steady over the decade. The strategy envisions minimizing the human role in post-packaging warehouses, exemplified by the Shreveport, Louisiana-based facility, where 1,000 robots handle most tasks, reducing headcount by 25% now and 50% by 2026.

This growth stems from the $775 million acquisition of Kiva Systems in 2012, which now has more than 1 million robots. Advanced prototypes like AI-powered arms that sort shirts or soap via computer vision in the Sequoia system indicate broader integration. The memo used terms like “advanced technology” instead of “automation” or “cobot” for collaborative bots to soften the blow, as well as promotional campaigns like community parades and Toys for Tots campaigns.

Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel dismissed the documents as “incomplete” and insisted they misrepresent its hiring strategy. “We are hiring 250,000 people for the holidays,” he said, and emphasized that the technology creates high-skilled roles in maintenance and AI monitoring, not a net loss. Still, MIT economist Daron Acemoglu warns that this could make Amazon a “net jobs destroyer,” disproportionately impacting Black workers, who are three times the national average in warehouses.

As robots are redefining retail, the blueprint raises concerns about wage erosion—each additional bot per 1,000 employees cuts American wages by 0.42%—and retraining needs amid rising living costs. Amazon’s bet on efficiency could make an impact in the logistics sector too, but at what human cost?