Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Wal-Mart seeks to test drones for home delivery

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 47 posts

Re: Wal-Mart seeks to test drones for home delivery

#21

Post by [deleted] »

Someone1234 wrote: post #10
TillE wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They won't. They're an absurd impracticality anywhere outside of Silicon Valley (suburban homes, no weather ever), and completely unnecessary even in those ideal conditions. People are excited because they're cool toys, not because it actually solves a problem.

Indeed. Even ignoring the total impracticality of them, you can also look at just energy issues. In order for drones to be cost effective, they need to stay in the air for minimum the full trip out and back from the home, but if you look at the location of most big warehouses (e.g. Amazon, Walmart) they're built outside of big cities for cost reasons, so now you have to fly twice as far to deliver packages onto the o…

[deleted]

Re: Wal-Mart seeks to test drones for home delivery

#23

Post by ergothus »

jahewson wrote: post #14
hayksaakian wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I can get a product faster by ordering online than driving to a store it will be a game changer. Imagine: saving the 30 minute to 1 hour round trip to a store, or waiting half the time for a driver to wade through traffic at peak hours.

I already save the 30 minute trip to the store by ordering online. So all the drone would offer me is to save a few days shipping time (or, back when I lived in the UK, one day. Oh and supermarket delivery is common there too.), which frankly isn't something I'm going to pay much for most of the time. I only drive to the store if I don't know what I'm going to buy and I want to browse in person.

"all the drone would offer me is to save a few days shipping time"

That's exactly what some (many?) of us want!

Re: Wal-Mart seeks to test drones for home delivery

#24

Post by BinaryIdiot »

TillE wrote: post #4
andykellr wrote: post #2

I'm ok with quiet, unmanned, self-driving delivery trucks that automate the package delivery process. I am not looking forward to delivery drones buzzing around overhead becoming a normal occurrence.

They won't. They're an absurd impracticality anywhere outside of Silicon Valley (suburban homes, no weather ever), and completely unnecessary even in those ideal conditions. People are excited because they're cool toys, not because it actually solves a problem.

I can't disagree with you enough. This will be a huge game changer. Sure, it won't change things a ton for the consumer (many times do you really need that item the same day or is 1-2 days okay to wait?) but for the retail companies that adapt this is going to be HUGE.

Yes drones are impractical right now but we have just begun using them (they're still incredibly new). Battery technology will improve, drones will get better. By investing in the technology now you can work through it, find what works best, iterate and repeat with small subsets of customers. When drones become more cost effective and efficient you'll be ready and already serving products this way. Years later you may even close many of your retail stores. Why would you need them? People can use their phone, order something and have it just come to them. Logistics can be reworked incredibly so they can hold more inventory at less locations (thus lowering the overall inventory hold).

It's not going to happen today or tomorrow but 5-10 years? Drones are going to save companies billions of dollars on retail locations. Sounds crazy today sure but don't bet against technology.

Re: Wal-Mart seeks to test drones for home delivery

#26

Post by pj_mukh »

TillE wrote: post #4
andykellr wrote: post #2

I'm ok with quiet, unmanned, self-driving delivery trucks that automate the package delivery process. I am not looking forward to delivery drones buzzing around overhead becoming a normal occurrence.

They won't. They're an absurd impracticality anywhere outside of Silicon Valley (suburban homes, no weather ever), and completely unnecessary even in those ideal conditions. People are excited because they're cool toys, not because it actually solves a problem.

When the naysayers abound, you know things are about to get off the ground. Parcel delivery starting in NZ (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&o...). My bet is that this technology will most likely start small (see: unsexy) and incrementally improve the technology (battery, airframe, autonomy) and regulations, while Amazon and Wal-mart keep promising the moon.

Re: Wal-Mart seeks to test drones for home delivery

#27

Post by aianus »

jahewson wrote: post #14
hayksaakian wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I can get a product faster by ordering online than driving to a store it will be a game changer. Imagine: saving the 30 minute to 1 hour round trip to a store, or waiting half the time for a driver to wade through traffic at peak hours.

I already save the 30 minute trip to the store by ordering online. So all the drone would offer me is to save a few days shipping time (or, back when I lived in the UK, one day. Oh and supermarket delivery is common there too.), which frankly isn't something I'm going to pay much for most of the time. I only drive to the store if I don't know what I'm going to buy and I want to browse in person.

> which frankly isn't something I'm going to pay much for most of the time

The drones are going to be cheaper than the UPS guy, not more expensive.

Re: Wal-Mart seeks to test drones for home delivery

#28

Post by aembleton »

hayksaakian wrote: post #11
TillE wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They won't. They're an absurd impracticality anywhere outside of Silicon Valley (suburban homes, no weather ever), and completely unnecessary even in those ideal conditions. People are excited because they're cool toys, not because it actually solves a problem.

When I can get a product faster by ordering online than driving to a store it will be a game changer. Imagine: saving the 30 minute to 1 hour round trip to a store, or waiting half the time for a driver to wade through traffic at peak hours.

Amazon are already offering 1 hour delivery [1] in certain locations. I think just London and a few cities in the US. Argos have also rolled out same day delivery [2] for £3.95, if you order before 6pm. This seems to be available for quite a bit of their inventory across the UK. It's not one hour delivery but getting close and the price is pretty good.

1. http://www.amazon.co.uk/b/ref=pn_uk_surl_lp?node=6584642031 2. http://www.argos.co.uk/static/ArgosPromo3/includeName/fast-t...

Re: Wal-Mart seeks to test drones for home delivery

#29

Post by peter303 »

On a related note Camden Real Estate has suspended free holding delivery packages for the 60K apartments it manages across the USA. They said they stored a million packages at cost of 150K employee hours.

Since the younger computer savy apartment crowd tends to order more online, I expect this issue to grow. Maybe apartments will compete on package amenities.

Re: Wal-Mart seeks to test drones for home delivery

#30

Post by nsgi »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #24
TillE wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They won't. They're an absurd impracticality anywhere outside of Silicon Valley (suburban homes, no weather ever), and completely unnecessary even in those ideal conditions. People are excited because they're cool toys, not because it actually solves a problem.

I can't disagree with you enough. This will be a huge game changer. Sure, it won't change things a ton for the consumer (many times do you really need that item the same day or is 1-2 days okay to wait?) but for the retail companies that adapt this is going to be HUGE. Yes drones are impractical right now but we have just begun using them (they're still incredibly new). Battery technology will improve, drones will ge…

> many times do you really need that item the same day or is 1-2 days okay to wait?

How many people use Amazon Prime? Clearly a few days makes a big difference to a lot of people.

Post reply on HN