By: Victor Tangermann
May 13, 2019
According to a Reuters exclusive, Amazon is rolling out specially-made machines that are capable of boxing up orders — a job currently held by thousands of human workers.
The CartonWrap robots build cardboard boxes around orders as they come down an assembly line, according Reuters’ sources. Each one processes 600 to 700 boxes per hour — roughly five times as many as a human packer, according to the report.
The implications for workers are grim. All told, Reuters estimates, the system could cut more than 1,300 jobs across 55 fulfillment centers in the United States. Ultimately, according to an anonymous source who worked on the new boxing machines, Amazon’s objective is a warehouse so devoid of human workers that it doesn’t even need lights.