Amazon, audited.
16 of ~116 facilities (US scope)1,890 dock doors3,825 trailer spots0 rail-served
We core-sampled 16 of ~116 DCs, MWPVL counts 116 large US fulfillment centers, excluding the last-mile delivery-station layer; we satellite-audited 16 of the largest freight sites.
Network size: MWPVL International Amazon distribution network analysis (data as of 2025 Q1): 116 US large non-sortable fulfillment centers, excluding the ~728 last-mile delivery stations; https://www.mwpvl.com/html/amazon_com.html (2025-Q1)
Public audit. Not affiliated with Amazon. Data from satellite imagery + public records.
We audited Amazon’s yards from satellite.
Click any site for its gate, docks, and drop yards. No badge, no NDA, just what a driver sees.
Amazon’s stack is connected. The yards never were.
Your TMS runs the road. Your WMS runs the building. The yards are the tier between them, and they were never on the network.
Every truck gets re-keyed, re-queued, and re-found at each step. The lost time lives between the steps, which is why no single tool ever fixed it. The audit below is that gap, measured on your real yards.
A real audited site, played gate→dock→exit on the true yard geometry. Switch sites with the picker.
Amazon SCK4 Inbound Cross-Dock Stockton CA
Truck queues at the gate. Guard checks paper BOL, runs the plate, types data into a screen, prints a gate pass.
Movement durations are honest floors set by yard geometry; the uplift lands on the wait fields (queue + dispatch + secondary checkpoints). “Today” timings reflect the radios-and-clipboards world; “With YardFlow” reflects the protocol acting end-to-end. We may be wrong about parts of this, your actual numbers will tell us where.
What the handoffs cost across your network, and what removing them is worth
Read from satellite + Street View across all 16 facilities. At a comparable network, Primo Brands cut drop-and-hook turns from ~48 to ~24 min. Set your real volumes and margins in the calculator to put a number on it.
What surprised us reading Amazon’s network
Three patterns held across the sites we sampled. None of them show up on a facility list. All of them change how the yard runs.
- 01
Fifteen of the 16 Amazon sites gate the yard and twelve staff a guard booth. No network we have mapped controls its gates this tightly.
- 02
The 16 sites span four node types: robotics fulfillment, an inbound cross-dock, a sortation center, and the CVG air hub, each with its own yard rhythm.
- 03
Across 16 sites we counted 1,890 dock doors and 3,825 trailer spots on 1,053 acres, with no rail. Every trailer moves by truck.
Turn what you saw into a number for finance
This audit is the evidence. The model is the math. Open the calculator seeded with Amazon’s audited yards, set your real volumes and margins, and it sizes the opportunity to the dollar.
This deep-dive is the evidence behind the /for/amazon memo.
Are these your yards?
Tell us where we got it wrong, or see what 15 minutes of orchestration looks like on your worst site.
We are not asking for a pilot. We are asking for a conversation.
A 30-minute call, direct with Casey. We show you what we found across your yards, you tell us straight where it fits and where it does not. If the call goes well, we talk pilot. If not, you keep the analysis.
None of these times work? Email me at casey@freightroll.com or call or text me at 410-236-7434, and we’ll find one.
Casey Larkin, YardFlow. Jake, our founder, joins when it helps.