diff --git a/aws_xray_sdk/core/sampling/local/sampler.py b/aws_xray_sdk/core/sampling/local/sampler.py
index fe524294..5b2b3a81 100644
--- a/aws_xray_sdk/core/sampling/local/sampler.py
+++ b/aws_xray_sdk/core/sampling/local/sampler.py
@@ -1,13 +1,11 @@
 import json
+import pkgutil
 from random import Random
 
-from pkg_resources import resource_filename
 from .sampling_rule import SamplingRule
 from ...exceptions.exceptions import InvalidSamplingManifestError
 
-
-with open(resource_filename(__name__, 'sampling_rule.json')) as f:
-    local_sampling_rule = json.load(f)
+local_sampling_rule = json.loads(pkgutil.get_data(__name__, 'sampling_rule.json'))
 
 SUPPORTED_RULE_VERSION = (1, 2)
 
diff --git a/aws_xray_sdk/ext/boto_utils.py b/aws_xray_sdk/ext/boto_utils.py
index 9bd9763e..06532fe7 100644
--- a/aws_xray_sdk/ext/boto_utils.py
+++ b/aws_xray_sdk/ext/boto_utils.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 # Need absolute import as botocore is also in the current folder for py27
 import json
+import pkgutil
 
-from pkg_resources import resource_filename
 from botocore.exceptions import ClientError
 
 from aws_xray_sdk.core import xray_recorder
@@ -12,8 +12,7 @@
 from aws_xray_sdk.ext.util import inject_trace_header, to_snake_case
 
 
-with open(resource_filename(__name__, 'resources/aws_para_whitelist.json'), 'r') as data_file:
-    whitelist = json.load(data_file)
+whitelist = json.loads(pkgutil.get_data(__name__, 'resources/aws_para_whitelist.json'))
 
 
 def inject_header(wrapped, instance, args, kwargs):
diff --git a/tests/mock_sampling_rule.json b/tests/mock_sampling_rule.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..32891ac7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/mock_sampling_rule.json
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+{
+    "version": 2,
+    "default": {
+      "fixed_target": 1,
+      "rate": 0.05
+    },
+    "rules": [
+    ]
+  }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/test_local_sampling_benchmark.py b/tests/test_local_sampling_benchmark.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..74e69cb2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_local_sampling_benchmark.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import json
+import pkgutil
+from pkg_resources import resource_filename
+
+# Faster
+def test_pkgutil_static_read(benchmark):
+    def get_sampling_rule():
+        return json.loads(pkgutil.get_data(__name__, 'mock_sampling_rule.json'))
+    benchmark(get_sampling_rule)
+
+# Slower
+def test_pkg_resources_static_read(benchmark):
+    def get_sampling_rule():
+        with open(resource_filename(__name__, 'mock_sampling_rule.json')) as f:
+            return json.load(f)
+    benchmark(get_sampling_rule)
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 8173d485..130ecc2c 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ skip_missing_interpreters = True
 passenv = TOXENV CI TRAVIS TRAVIS_* CODECOV_*
 deps =
     pytest > 3.0.0
+    pytest-benchmark
     coverage==4.5.4
     codecov
     requests