Ladd argues that the products being offered for drone delivery can best be characterised as low value and low necessity. “Yes, delivering prescriptions by drone can be done but the percentage of such deliveries will be minimal.”

He notes that, according to internal Amazon documents, each drone delivery will cost $63 per package in 2025, the year that the e-commerce giant aims to deliver one million packages annually in this way.

“That’s nearly 20 times the cost of the average ground delivery that Amazon makes.”

“It is currently estimated to spend $4.50 to $5.50 per package when shipping through third-party delivery partners. It costs roughly $3.47 per package for products shipped through Amazon’s own logistics network.” 

Ladd states: “From a research perspective, I challenge the wisdom of using drones when a more cost-effective and efficient solution would be to stock vans with the most requested products, and provide access to the vans using an app.”

“This model…

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Source: retailtechinnovationhub.com