Amazon is investing over $4 billion into its delivery infrastructure to speed up access to essential goods in thousands of underserved communities.
The company has confirmed that it will expand its Same-Day and Next-Day delivery services to more than 4,000 small towns and cities by the end of 2025, aiming to close the logistics gap between urban centres and isolated regions.
Amazon plans to triple the scale of its delivery network by 2026, creating an estimated 170 new jobs per delivery station and thousands more through partnerships with local drivers under the Delivery Service Partner (DSP) and Amazon Flex programmes.
For full-time roles, workers are offered wages nearly three times the federal minimum, alongside benefits from the first day of employment.
The focus on rural areas comes as residents in small towns are demanding the same quick access to goods that city dwellers have enjoyed for years.
Amazon’s internal data supports this. In the first quarter of 2025, Same-Day and Next-Day deliveries in the U.S. surged by more than 30% compared to the same period in 2024. Over 9 billion items have already been delivered through these rapid services this year alone.
Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, stressed the scale of this transformation. “Everybody loves fast delivery. So, whether you live in Monmouth, Iowa or in downtown Los Angeles, now you’re going to have the same fantastic Amazon customer experience: the ability to get the wide variety of items you need to keep your household running every day, delivered the same or next day.”
Amazon is reconfiguring existing rural delivery stations into hybrid hubs that double as local inventory centres. These mini-warehouses will store high-demand items, both national staples and products tailored to local tastes.
For example, shoppers in Dubuque, Iowa may find shelves stocked with wild bird food, while residents in Findlay, Ohio can expect a steady supply of travel backpacks.
Amazon is leaning on its deep datasets and predictive technology to curate what each community needs most.
According to its logistics team, more than 90% of the top 50 repurchased items through Same-Day Delivery in rural areas are basic household essentials, paper towels, pet food, coffee, diapers.
The goal is to cut down the need for store runs and keep daily life moving with fewer disruptions.
For customers, it’s a chance to access speed-critical items like groceries and cleaning products without waiting days or travelling long distances. And with Prime, all orders above $25 will continue to qualify for free Same-Day Delivery.
With the Prime Day shopping blitz happening from July 8 to 11, this announcement is linked to Amazon’s long-term priorities.
Urban markets may be saturated, but rural America is still wide open, and Amazon intends to fill that space with packages, jobs, and perhaps most importantly, convenience.
