According to the portal Foodretail.es Walmart has launched drone delivery service in Arizona, Florida and Texas in the United States, with the goal of creating the capacity to deliver one million packages a year by drone.
The DroneUp service is part of the company’s expansion plan focused on currently offering this delivery option in six states and covering four million homes, reports hispaviacion.es. The other three are Arkansas, Utah, and Virginia. In total, 34 stores in 23 cities will have drone delivery. DroneUp has already launched three delivery centers at Walmart stores in northwest Arkansas.
The stores that have this service host a delivery center
Customers within a mile of participating stores (four in the Phoenix area, seven in the Tampa and Orlando areas, and 11 in the Dallas region) can use the service.
Stores that have this service host a DroneUp delivery center that includes a team of certified pilots, who safely manage flight operations for deliveries. Once a customer places an order, the item is picked in the store, packaged, loaded onto the drone, and delivered directly to their yard via a cable that gently lowers the package.
MORE THAN 10,000 ARTICLES
According to wallmart, “drones can deliver more than 10,000 items weighing less than 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms), including fragile items like eggs, in just 30 minutes. There are no minimum orders and the delivery fee is only $3.99.
“Drone delivery makes it possible for our customers to purchase those last-minute or forgotten items with ease, in a package that is downright great,” says Vik Gopalakrishnan, Walmart’s vice president of Innovation and Automation.