The Lockeford Files

Amazon, the Seattle-based, multinational technology company which focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence, has announced that customers in Lockeford, California, will start receiving package deliveries by drone later this year.

The community of 3,500 will be among the first U.S. locations to receive free drone delivery of Amazon products within 30 minutes — thereby ostensibly fulfilling a promise Amazon founder Jeff Bezos made nearly a decade ago.

Amazon has begun contacting customers in Lockeford for purpose of inquiring after their interest in drone delivery. Once enrolled, customers will be visited by Amazon personnel who will determine whether or not  the areas adjacent the customer’s homes are conducive to drone deliveries. 

The service—which Amazon has dubbed Prime Air—will be offered at no cost to Prime members exclusively.

Amazon's drone program, in which the company has reportedly invested in excess of $2-billion, has been beset with delays and staffing setbacks. To date, at least eight Amazon drones have crashed, and the Prime Air division has contended with a staggering 71% employee turnover.

Drone delivery companies are obligated to be certified and operate under Part 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. Amazon’s application for Part 135 certification is currently under FAA review.  The agency—in keeping with its policy of discussing neither pending certification projects nor discussions with companies—declined to comment. 

Amazon isn’t alone in its bid to commercialize drone package delivery. Walmart started testing drone delivery last year in Arkansas, and Alphabet—a company begat by Google legerdemain—launched its Wing drone delivery program near Dallas. UPS, too, is developing a drone service.

Zak Stambor, senior analyst of retail and e-commerce at Insider Intelligence states: “You can see why drone delivery would make sense, in a moment when there's a labor shortage, it's really hard to hire truck drivers. For example, gas prices are rising and show no end in sight.”

Notwithstanding Stambor’s cheery assessment, drone delivery faces a host of legal, regulatory, fiscal, and safety challenges. An internal Amazon estimate put the cost of a drone-delivered package at $63, compared to about $5 when the same package is shipped by a third-party carrier like UPS or the U.S. Post Office.

Nevertheless, Insider Intelligence estimates the fleet of delivery drones will number 39,000 this year, and 69,000 next year.

FMI: www.aboutamazon.com