DroneUp!

We stopped at a Walmart in Seffner, Florida, near Lazydays RV park and noticed an interesting display in the parking lot.

It was a setup for DroneUp. We weren't sure what that might be, so we went over to find out.

It is a pilot/experimental program that Walmart is running for drone delivery of items to customers.

The delivered item must fit into this box that is hung below the drone and the weight of the item(s) must be less than 10 pounds.

At this time they only deliver within a 0.8 mile radius of the store. (I have to wonder who would have something delivered if they live only 0.8 miles from the store... as I recall, he said that the delivery costs $3.99.)

The drone is pretty large - the fellow we talked with said that the total weight is limited to 55 pounds (by the FAA?) and the drone itself is 45 pounds (thus the weight limit of 10 pounds for the delivered item).

He told us that the initial project started in Arkansas, and they are now running trial programs in Virginia and Florida, and maybe some other states.

The "pilots" of the drone are located at this spot in the parking lot as the drone delivers the product to the customers.

The fellow that we talked with said that the customers who used it during the initial program in Arkansas often got things delivered that they forgot to pick up when they were at the store. (Patti comment: they should make a list!)

When the drone gets to the delivery location, it can set the package down in the front or back of the house, wherever they are directed to deliver it - however, the drone is limited by the presence of trees. The drone does not land, but has a winch that lowers the package down to the ground (so no one can make-off with the drone!).

More information here: https://www.droneup.com/

We asked the 3 guys there how they got involved with this -- two of them majored in college in drone-something... flying drones, programming them, etc. -- didn't know such a field of study existed!

We asked about the possibility of delivery to RVs. He said that they currently need a street address, and cannot deliver to apartments, though there are probably plans on how to address that.

We wonder how many deliveries they would need to do in a day to make it cost effective -- there were 3 "pilots" plus the equipment to be paid for... we have a hard time figuring how that business model will work (especially if they deliver only a short distance from the store!). It will be interesting to see if and how this develops!