Amazon Prime drones deliver Christmas gifts
Drone deliveries took off in Lockeford, California, and College Station, Texas
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Customers in two cities received some packages via drone ahead of Christmas last week as Amazon’s Prime Air delivery service started there.
"Prime Air deliveries to customers in Lockeford, California, and College Station, Texas, have now started," an Amazon spokesperson confirmed Tuesday to FOX Business. "Our aim is to safely introduce our drones to the skies. We are starting in these communities and will gradually expand deliveries to more customers over time."
Amazon's MK27-2, the latest drone iteration, features a unique hexagonal design to provide six degrees of freedom for stability and propellers that minimize high-frequency sound waves. (Amazon)
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Customers will receive notification from Amazon when drone delivery rolls out where they live.
CBS Sacramento and Fox 40 reported Friday the drone deliveries in Lockeford and College Station had commenced.
The start of Prime Air drone deliveries in Lockeford came roughly half a year after the e-commerce giant announced it intended to make the service available in the city.
Amazon’s plans to offer drone deliveries in College Station, the city where Texas A&M University is located, were unveiled in mid-July.
This picture taken July 4, 2022, shows the Amazon logo at an Amazon Amagasaki fulfillment center in Amagasaki, Hyogo prefecture. (Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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For products eligible for Prime Air delivery, customers with access to the service "place an order as they normally would and receive an estimated arrival time with a status tracker for their order," Amazon explained in the June release announcing drone deliveries in Lockeford.
Amazon will begin a seller storage service called Amazon Warehousing & Distribution in an effort to alleviate supply chain issues. Here an Amazon building in Bretigny-sur-Orge, near Paris, France, is pictured Dec. 7, 2021. (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes / Reuters Photos)
A drone "will fly to the designated delivery location, descend to the customer’s backyard and hover at a safe height." Then, it will "safely release the package and rise back up to altitude," the company said at the time.
WALMART DRONE DELIVERY LAUNCHES IN FLORIDA, TEXAS, ARIZONA MARKETS
Another retail giant, Walmart, launched drone package delivery in several cities — Phoenix, Dallas, Tampa and Orlando — for select customers earlier in December, FOX Business reported.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 198.38 | -4.50 | -2.22% |
| WMT | WALMART INC. | 88.38 | +1.19 | +1.36% |
| FDX | FEDEX CORP. | 295.25 | +7.25 | +2.52% |
| UPS | UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC. | 131.37 | -0.72 | -0.55% |
| GOOGL | ALPHABET INC. | 167.63 | -8.35 | -4.74% |
Other companies, including FedEx, UPS and Alphabet, have tested or plan to test drone delivery options.
