{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","contentId":"0000019c-f771-dd2e-ab9f-fff37f470001","url":"https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/learn-and-be-curious-podcast-same-day-delivery-speed","headline":"What toilet paper taught Amazon about delivery speed","description":"In the latest episode of the ‘Learn and Be Curious’ podcast, Amazon's CEO of Worldwide Stores, Doug Herrington, discussed how Same-Day Delivery transformed customer behavior, and what's coming next.","datePublished":"2026-03-17T13:50:04.285Z","dateModified":"2026-03-17T13:50:04.285Z","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Amazon Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/08549ff/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1125x1125+438+0/resize/84x84!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F47%2F6d%2F7fe296e642859c7ba2a629eda3ba%2Famazon-logo-hero-images-2024.jpg","width":"84","height":"84"}}],"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/b140943/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1688x1125+0+0/resize/300x200!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2Ffa%2F26%2F17798e6544899e34ff75414c2409%2Fabout-amazon-hero-doug-pod-ep2-amazon-news-wl-03162026.jpg","width":"300","height":"200"},"articleBody":"![Doug Herrington and Kandace Kapps on the Learn and Be Curious with Doug Herrington podcast](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/b140943/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1688x1125+0+0/resize/300x200!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2Ffa%2F26%2F17798e6544899e34ff75414c2409%2Fabout-amazon-hero-doug-pod-ep2-amazon-news-wl-03162026.jpg)\n\n# What toilet paper taught Amazon about delivery speed\n\n*In the latest episode of the ‘Learn and Be Curious’ podcast, Amazon's CEO of Worldwide Stores, Doug Herrington, discussed how Same-Day Delivery transformed customer behavior, and what's coming next. *\n\n---\n\n## Key takeaways\n\n- Everyday essentials like toilet paper once took five to eight days to arrive from Amazon, but as delivery speeds improved, they became top-selling items.\n- The faster Amazon delivers, the more customers buy—and the sooner they return to shop again.\n- [1-hour delivery is now available](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-fast-delivery-orders) in hundreds of U.S. cities and towns, with 3-hour delivery available in over 2,000, for top items.\n\n---\n\nSpeed matters to customers, and Amazon has the data to prove it.\n\n\"When we speed up the service, the probability that somebody buys a product from us goes up,\" Doug Herrington, Amazon's CEO of Worldwide Stores, explained in a recent episode of his [*Learn and Be Curious with Doug Herrington*](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/learn-be-curious-podcast-amazon-stores-ceo) podcast. \"And what's even more interesting is that if they buy it, they're going to come back sooner, and they're going to shop more when they do.\"\n\n![Amazon Stores CEO Doug Herrington recording podcast](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/223c4a6/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1688x1125+0+0/resize/300x200!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F31%2F9e%2F6796f9ff449fb84126e2df6660bf%2Fdoug-herrington-podcast-nb-2-12-26.jpg)\n\n- [Amazon Stores CEO reveals what he learned from Jeff Bezos about building company culture](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-culture-learn-and-be-curious-podcast)\n\nIn the new episode, Herrington sat down with Kandace Kapps, a director on Amazon’s Same-Day strategy team, and shared how he saw the speed effect firsthand when Amazon first added toilet paper to its selection, years before Prime existed. Back then, most customers received deliveries in five to eight days.\n\n\"There is a set of people who will wait five to eight days to get their toilet paper when they've run out,\" Herrington said. \"But it's actually a very small set of people.\"\n\nAs Amazon introduced two-day Prime delivery, then one-day, and eventually [Same-Day Delivery](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/amazon-prime/amazon-same-day-delivery) measured in hours, more customers felt comfortable ordering everyday essentials online. Today, toilet paper ranks as one of Amazon's top-selling items.\n\n![Amazon Prime delivery featuring food, cleaning supplies, and essentials](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/cb9eb1e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1688x1125+156+0/resize/300x200!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2Faa%2Fbd%2F26ab953545e2bb66375fcb6577fa%2Faa-june2025-amazongrocery-standard-hero-v2-2000x1125.jpg)\n\n- [How paper towels, avocados, and bananas became some of Amazon’s most frequently purchased items](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-grocery-sales-growth-paper-towels-produce-essentials)\n\n## How Amazon delivers in hours\n\nThe engine behind Amazon's speed improvements is a network of Same-Day Delivery buildings located close to customers in metropolitan areas. These facilities carry more than 90,000 items—from AirPods to diapers to fresh produce.\n\nKapps explained that the Same-Day buildings are intentionally designed and “located as close as possible to our customers so we can get to them with the fastest speed viable.”\n\nUnlike traditional fulfillment centers, these buildings combine everything under one roof: electronics, household goods, groceries, and pharmacy items. They also function as delivery stations, allowing packages to go directly from the shelf to a customer's doorstep within hours.\n\n![Kandace Kapps on the Learn and Be Curious with Doug Herrington podcast](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/edd9cb8/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1600x900+0+0/resize/767x431!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F8e%2F69%2F0fe37f824196b5caf75f6e11ad5c%2Fabout-amazon-inline-dougpod2-7126.jpg)\n\n\"We can watch an order, a customer can place an order, it can drop on the floor and be picked and packed and on the dock within 15 minutes,\" Herrington said.\n\nAmazon recently expanded its fastest delivery options across more product categories. Customers in certain parts of the U.S. can now choose [1-hour delivery and 3-hour delivery](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-fast-delivery-orders) on the full selection available in Same-Day buildings. \n\n![Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, in fulfillment center wearing safety vest](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/3832323/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1350x900+139+0/resize/300x200!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F65%2F7e%2F604e42cf4aeeae470239bf9b343b%2Fdoug-herrington-amazon-speed-delivery-promo-nb-020326.png)\n\n- [Amazon sets new Prime delivery speed record in 2025](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-prime-same-day-next-day-delivery-2025)\n\n\"I think customers are going to continue to get magically surprised by how fast we can deliver at their doorstep,\" Kapps said.\n\nKapps, who has worked at Amazon for nearly 15 years, said the Same-Day network appeals especially to busy families. As a parent of a toddler, she orders from Amazon two to three times more frequently than before.\n\nAmazon achieved record delivery speeds in [2023](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/operations/doug-herrington-amazon-prime-delivery-speed-2024-updates), [2024](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/prime-members-us-savings-fastest-delivery-2024), and [2025](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-prime-same-day-next-day-delivery-2025) while also improving [safety performance](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/amazon-workplace-safety-2025-injury-reduction) each year.\n\nThe first two episodes of *Learn and Be Curious with Doug Herrington* are now available [wherever you listen to podcasts](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/learn-be-curious-podcast-amazon-stores-ceo).","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"About Amazon","url":"https://www.aboutamazon.com","sameAs":["https://x.com/amazonnews","https://www.linkedin.com/company/amazon","https://www.instagram.com/amazonnews"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://assets.aboutamazon.com/bd/8f/88e7b0314cc2bd05b9de3155a0fe/amazon-news.svg"},"parentOrganization":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Amazon","url":"https://www.amazon.com","sameAs":["https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3884","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_(company)","https://x.com/Amazon"]}}}