Does Your Local Walmart Offer Drone Delivery?
USA Today | February 14, 2023
Attention Walmart shoppers: Drones are swarming around more of the retailer's stores across the U.S.
Customers near the Walmart Supercenter in Winter Haven, Florida, are among the latest to have the option of grocery items delivered by drone in 30 minutes or less.
How far can you get Walmart groceries delivered?
So far, drone deliveries are only permitted within a 0.8-mile radius but as soon as the Federal Aviation Administration allows it, the aerial drop-offs could expand to a 2-mile radius of the store, as some locations on the West Coast are already being studied.
How many groceries can you get delivered?
The service comes in a box with a 10-pound capacity that fits about two loaves of bread. More than 10,000 eligible items are available for delivery, there is no minimum order amount and the delivery fee is $3.99.
So far, prescription drugs are not being flown but that is in the works for later this year. Some drone delivery hubs have been in operation for a year, including one in Walmart's corporate hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas. Last year, according to Walmart, the drone hubs completed 6,000 deliveries.
How does it work?
Keith Christensen, hub leader at DroneUp, told The Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network, customers near the Winter Haven Walmart can order via the website (droneupdelivery.com) between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. daily.
The drone hub employee then takes their smart phone with them inside the Walmart store and picks out the order for the customer, Christensen said. The hub employee enters each item they shop for on their phone and the customers can see in real time how their order is coming together.
“Once the aircraft is airborne another update will go out to the customer saying that the drone is in the air and on its way to your house,” he said.
The drones reach a cruising altitude of around 223 feet after takeoff from the Winter Haven hub and hover over the delivery location at 80 feet after arrival. A winch lowers the box containing the items to the ground and it detaches once the box makes a soft landing on the ground. The winch system then releases from the box and recoils to the drone before the aircraft returns to the hub at 223 feet.
Walmart customers can expect more stores to get drone delivery. The retailer said on its corporate website 4,700 of Walmart stores are located within 90% of the U.S. population, making the multinational retailer "uniquely positioned to offer drone delivery at scale."