Amazon plans automated delivery stations for the last mile

Amazon is building fully automated delivery stations — no forklifts, no loading docks, just robots moving packages from trucks to lockers and curbside bins. Geekwire reports the company wants to replace the warehouse workers and delivery drivers who currently handle the final stretch from distribution center to front door.

The last mile is where shipping gets expensive and complicated. Trucks idle at stops, drivers walk miles, and delays pile up. Automation aims to cut that friction. The stations are part of Amazon's broader push to automate its supply chain, which has already seen robots in warehouses and pilots of autonomous delivery vehicles.

For the people who work this route — warehouse staff, delivery drivers, warehouse associates, the cousins who run the local UPS shop — this is a real shift. Amazon has been quietly consolidating its workforce for years, replacing temporary labor with permanent robots where it makes sense. These stations would be the next step: less human labor, more machines, more speed.

Why this matters for us: every time Amazon automates the last mile, it's betting the work that families depend on — the warehouse shifts, the driving gigs, the small delivery shops — can be done cheaper by machines, and the people who count on that work are the ones who end up paying the price.