Drone Package Delivery

Future of the Industry or Just a Bunch of Science Fiction?   Lately there’s been a lot of talk about the prospect of drone package delivery. You may have seen the now famous 60 Minutes segment with Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos’s revelation of a drone project in the works. Or perhaps you read FedEx CEO Fred Smith’s admission that they too had several drone studies underway. Is it all a PR stunt or is delivery by unmanned aircraft a viable solution? While we think a business model that relies on drones for all or even a majority of deliveries is far from becoming a reality, there is definitely opportunity to use them to augment current delivery methods, rather than replace them. Consider this scenario: A delivery truck rolls into a neighborhood. From the truck come six or seven drones at once, each with a package for a different address on the street. The driver is there too to make sure there are no issues or complications. In a delivery route as dense as many subdivisions or city blocks, this could mean a drastic improvement to productivity—increasing efficiency, while saving time and money. Short deliveries like this also prevent the drones from having to reach altitudes that invade air space controlled by the FAA. Doesn’t sound as impractical now does it? Of course, this is just a pie in the sky scenario. There’s still a lot of work and research to be done on the matter. But it’s important that we as industry players don’t dismiss current trends and technologies just because they can at first seem like impossibilities. So, while we highly doubt drones will be replacing the Big Brown Truck anytime soon, we’re a bit more optimistic about the possibility of seeing Little Brown Drones in the not too distant future—and we can’t wait to have one come to our door!]]>