Amazon is increasingly replacing the people that pack orders with robots. Reuters exclusively learned of the plan to boost automation. The technology will have to be vetted further before it is widely deployed but could mean thousands of people lose their jobs. Amazon said it will reinvest savings from technology and create new jobs.

The company started adding technology to a handful of warehouses in recent years, which scans goods coming down a conveyor belt and envelopes them seconds later in boxes custom-built for each item, two people who worked on the project told Reuters. Amazon has considered installing two machines at dozens more warehouses, removing at least 24 roles at each one, these people said. These facilities typically employ more than 2,000 people. That would amount to more than 1,300 cuts across 55 U.S. fulfillment centers for standard-sized inventory.