Drones to Deliver Amazon Goods

Maybe it was the effectiveness of the Afghanistan drone policy or perhaps the way gifts are presented by parachute to the tributes in The Hunger Games, but somehow Amazon has caught onto a great idea:  use drones for local delivery of ordered goods.

In a 60 Minutes interview Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told Charlie Rose that using drones to deliver small (under 5 pounds) merchandise would be the wave of the future. And Amazon, the Internet giant, wants to offer that service to their customer base.

Forget Next Day Air. Prime Air, the delivery company, would deliver a purchased item to the buyer in 30 minutes or less. Now that’s service. Put your order in using a smart phone and voila in less time than it takes to get a Domino’s delivery your “gotta have it now” gift is plopped down in your front yard. Even Santa Claus would be impressed, and maybe in the winter we could make the drones look like a sleigh or reindeer, too. You know, just to join in the festivity. Not to leave anyone out, they could also make them look like flying Menorahs or whatever religious or political symbol might seem appropriate.

Bezos said we can expect to see this technology put to use in about 5 years. But, with the advent of flying cars, which also could be coursing the skyways in the same amount of time, I would think the airspace might be a bit crowded. Still, getting my goods in 30 minutes beats the heck out of driving to the mall or Richmond, but do I really need an item so quickly that sending it by drone is the way to go?

Sure, I know how it could be. You’re sitting there in front of the boob tube, LCD and HDMI connected, and your spouse or significant other starts to feel a bit of a chill. So, you take a second or two dig out your current I-phone and go to the Amazon website. In very short time, you’re browsing the Snuggies list and find one that meets your needs. You click the selection and then get the pop up that asks if you want it delivered in 30-minutes or less. Click that and then it’s merely a very short waiting game.

At some point, you get a message on your phone that the snuggie is about to be delivered. Head outside and look up into the sky. What do you see? Not one, but dozens of these drones careening through the night and making deliveries everywhere. For a second, you worry that you won’t get the snuggy you ordered. No instead, you end up with a couple medium pizzas from Domino’s.

Oh well, at least it made it there in under 30 minutes and you don’t have to tip a robot. So all’s good and you can move along and dine on your neighbor’s pizza. In the meantime, your Amazon order skims in and drops from the drone. And there you have it:  dinner and a snuggie. Who could ask for anything more?

Ok, so does this sound plausible to anyone? Really?