Dive Brief:
- Amazon will close its Reno, Nevada, fulfillment center on Aug. 2 as it reshapes its delivery network to enable faster shipping.
- The e-commerce giant announced in October 2024 it would not renew the lease on the facility, which primarily handled big-and-bulky shipments.
- The closure will impact 325 employees, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice filed June 2. Amazon is offering transfer opportunities to affected employees, with over 100 already accepting roles at other facilities, said Steve Kelly, an Amazon spokesperson, in an email. Employees choosing not to transfer are being offered severance, transition health benefits and job placement support.
Dive Insight:
The facility closure will not impact Reno customers or signal Amazon’s departure from the city, Kelly said.
The company is currently building a same-day delivery facility in the city, with the construction slated to continue into 2026. Employees impacted by the Reno fulfillment center closure will receive advance notice of job openings at the new facility, Kelly said.
Amazon’s expansion of same-day delivery sites is key to the company’s push to increase delivery speeds.
“Every year, people ask whether we’ve reached the law of diminishing returns on speed of delivery. Our data shows this not to be the case,” CEO Andy Jassy said in an April letter to shareholders. “When we promise faster delivery times, customers complete purchases at a meaningfully higher rate and shop with us more frequently.”
In the letter, Jassy specifically credited the company’s addition of more same-day delivery sites as one catalyst for its delivery speed boosts in 2024. During the year, the company delivered more than 9 billion orders via same- or next-day shipping while growing its numbers of same-delivery facilities by 60%, Jassy said in a February earnings call.
Amazon currently operates same-day delivery facilities in more than 140 metro areas in the U.S., including Boston, Atlanta, San Francisco and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, per a Feb. 7 update.
