walmart is expanding its air war against amazon, planning to reach 4 million households by the end of the year.
by rick richardson
walmart, the brick-and-mortar retail giant plans to offer the service from 34 locations in six states. when the service started, only a single store in arkansas offered it. however, the retail giant hopes to reach up to 4 million households by the end of 2022.
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droneup, a company in which walmart has invested, will operate the service between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., delivering packages weighing less than 10 pounds. there will be a charge of $3.99 for the delivery. once received, the order is boxed and a droneup pilot flies the drone to the customer’s location, easing the box gently down on the front lawn with a claw-like device at the end of a sturdy cable.
this program expansion is forecasted to take hundreds of deliveries within a few months to more than a million drone deliveries a year.
walmart is clearly targeting the one or two items purchased with quick last-minute trips. the press release stated that the top-selling item at one of the early hubs is hamburger helper.
both ups and fedex are reportedly experimenting with drones but aren’t offering an actual service yet. alphabet (google’s parent) has its own drone service called wing, with limited offerings in virginia and texas. wing is also operating in australia, and through the first quarter of 2022, they claim deliveries of more than 200,000 parcels.
and, even with delivery trucks around every corner, amazon is still experiencing problems with its drone efforts. the big difference with amazon’s program is that the online goliath wants the drones to be autonomous rather than piloted.
because of its commitment to “certified pilots,” walmart will face a tougher time scaling up its efforts. drone flights, by regulation, must be ‘line-of-sight’ flights. stores will need control towers in their parking lots and are limited to a 1.5-mile radius for deliveries.