Amazon expanding lightweight drone delivery to 500 US cities with potential 30-minute wait times for packages

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Key points

• The service will be free for Amazon Prime members who are ordering more than $50 worth of goods, but smaller orders will cost members $2.99.
• Amazon's plan would expand its drone delivery operation more than sixfold nationwide into hundreds of new communities, including the Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland and Boise metro areas.
• Kodali remarked Amazon's expansion plan does seem aggressive but remember that lots of the 500 may be small towns located close to one another.
• Prime members obtain free deliveries while non-members pay a flat fee if the shipment is under $35 for standard delivery or up to $12.99 for same‑day shipments when available.

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Millions more individuals may be able to secure smaller, lightweight Amazon packages delivered by drones by the end of the year under a plan the firm unveiled Wednesday to expand the airborne shipping to suburban areas in almost 500 U.S. Cities.

Customers could receive the drone deliveries in as fast as 30 minutes, Amazon remarked in a news release. The drones can carry packages up to 5 pounds.

Meanwhile, the plan will intensify the battle between Amazon and Walmart to provide consumers with the fastest delivery times. Both giants rely on a mix of drones and drivers to deliver everything consumers have ordered.

In practice, the goal is not necessarily regarding cutting costs by replacing drivers and trucks – and drones that can only carry one package at a time would have a hard time doing that. But instead, these firms are using drones as one tool to assist keep customers happy with quicker deliveries, banking on a faster delivery system attracting more shoppers.

Amazon's plan would expand its drone delivery operation more than sixfold nationwide into hundreds of new communities, including the Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland and Boise metro areas. The drones will primarily fly in the suburbs well away from skyscrapers and major airports that could cause challenges. Each drone site serves multiple cities in a metro area, and Amazon would not say exactly how plenty of new sites it is planning to commence flying from. Drone delivery is growing fast but remains a small factor.

Hundreds of thousands of packages have already been delivered by Amazon drones this year, but even after this expansion drones will still only handle a fraction of the hundreds of millions of package deliveries each year. Along with only being able to carry 5 pounds, the drones Amazon builds face countless challenges from tree cover to landscaping and inflatable pools that can create it hard to find a good drop zone.

There are additionally regulatory hurdles to overcome in every community where Amazon wants to set up operations. Noise reservations additionally pose a potential challenge.

"It's still an experiment. It's still in test and learn mode, " remarked Sucharita Kodali. This person is a retail analyst with Forrester.

More than two decades have passed since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos first described his vision for drone deliveries in an interview on "60 Minutes, " which demonstrates how hard it has been to develop the service, secure all the needed approvals and prove the concept works.

Kodali remarked Amazon's expansion plan "does seem aggressive but remember that lots of the 500 may be small towns located close to one another. The coming shortly list is actually only a handful of metro areas. Additionally 'launching' in a town doesn't mean they are getting any meaningful sales."

Walmart already offers drone delivery at more than 75 stores throughout Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Texas, but the core part of its network relies on drivers to bring orders directly from its stores to customers. The retail giant remarked earlier this year that it planned to expand drone delivery service to 150 more stores in partnership with Wing, a division of Alphabet, to provide it 270 drone delivery locations by 2027.

Walmart declined to comment on Amazon's announcement Wednesday since it came one day before the business was scheduled to report earnings. The novelty of drone delivery may attract orders at first.

Initially, consumers might order something delivered by drone since they are curious concerning it, but it's not clear how often they will continue to employ the service, and Amazon is still working out the economics, Kodali remarked.

Notably, the service will be free for Amazon Prime members who are ordering more than $50 worth of goods, but smaller orders will cost members $2.99. Non-members will pay $4.99 for drone delivery.

Kodali remarked drones could prove more useful for certain lightweight deliveries that are needed urgently like prescription medications.

DoorDash and other delivery firms additionally are experimenting with using drones to deliver foods and other goods. Amazon CEO believes drone delivery will be part of the mix.

Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy informed shareholders in his annual letter in April that the business has learned a great accord by flying drones in 11 sites throughout Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas. In each location, the drones launch from an Amazon warehouse and cover regarding 175 square miles, so it takes multiple drone launching locations to serve a substantial metro area.

"Prime Air now has a design that'll scale, plans to serve communities with 30 million customers by year-end, and expects to deliver half a billion packages by the end of this decade (with an aim to deliver inside 30 minutes), " Jassy wrote.

Amazon is additionally continuing to invest in its warehouses, smaller fulfillment centers closer to customers and its fleet of trucks as the business competes to deliver packages within minutes or hours instead of just days.

It's not clear that drone delivery is cheaper than trucks at this point since a team of residents is needed to create drone delivery feasible and those individuals might even earn more than a truck driver since they may have to be licensed drone pilots. Start your day with all you need to know. Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.

Amazon is already certified by the Federal Aviation Administration and the firm has been awarded waivers to fly drones beyond the line of sight of the pilots. Amazon has invested in safety measures to support drones avoid collisions with anything else in the sky while they are making deliveries.

Meanwhile, the federal administration has proposed a rule that would allow more drone operators to fly beyond the horizon, but that hasn't been finalized yet.

For now, amazon expanding lightweight drone delivery to 500 US cities with potential 30 remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.