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FAA regs preventing Amazon's Move into Drone Delivery Systems".

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Can’t believe it took them so long to arrive at this conclusion.
Regards
 
Amazon Prime Air Lays off workers

Yeah . . . apparently, mass delivery of product by drones is not only - not profitable, but was a drain on the rest of the company.

<extreme sarcasm> Wow - who could've seen this coming.🤔

I'm almost sure Alphabet / Google / Wing consumer deliveries over here will be next to come to that conclusion.

Now, the question might be, can larger, more sparse countries postal services possibly make a go of it, and pick up on all the tech these companies have developed ?

I think it's possible, similar to urgent medical type services being an obvious win for drone deliveries.

edit typo
 
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companies like Amazon can sell products they way they do ,because they have the buying power to procure those products at a greatly reduced price ,from suppliers simply because of scale ,
but then they have to be able to distribute those products at scale as well which requires a very well run logistics division ,capable of working at speed with proven reliable technology
as we all know drones require very complex operating criteria ,to enable them to safely and reliably move between two points ,and as of now ,no matter what some people might think ,the world is nowhere near to having that technology ,to operate drones to accomplish such an undertaking ,in densely populated areas ,and with a load carrying capacity to make it a cost affective alternative
i accept that in certain parts of the world ,then using drones to reach isolated destinations,is something that can be accomplished ,and i think that as the technology improves we will see more and more of this use of drones
 
To me, the big hurdle companies like Amazon have in delivery by drone is that currently; your average Amazon box truck/delivery van delivers an average of 350 to 450 packages a day. That's one relatively low skilled operator with one low tech truck.

How many drones, sorties per day, trained personnel and so on, would it take to replace the 1 truck 1 driver; and what does that cost?

amazonSmall.jpg
 
your average Amazon box truck/delivery van delivers an average of 350 to 450 packages a day. That's one relatively low skilled operator with one low tech truck.

From dashcam footage on YouTube that I've seen of the Prime trucks, the cost for letterboxes demolished by those low skilled drivers must cost Amazon quite a bit though :D
 
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I can't see their point of it being cost effective at all. A friend of mine is a driver and they work their ***** off doing this job in the rain and snow with freezing temps to have to deal with, like tomorrow -4 wind chill carrying packages that can weight as much as 60 lbs or more. Large bags of dog food can weight 55 lbs. or more alone and it's pretty common for people have it delivered to their door. I'm sure the delivery cost would have to be absorbed by the customer and would they be willing to pay a large amount for this service or not? I wouldn't think so, I wouldn't. How would you deliver to a upstairs apt with a drone. I guess if you didn't rent or own a house you wouldn't get considered for the service which brings us back to the unskilled laborers, huh. I guess you would need a neighborhood collection box and not many people would be willing to carry heavy packages to their own door.. Let alone up a flight of stairs or two. Not practical. I only see medical need as being the only viable alternative for this service, look how much price gouging goes on in the medical field anyway, I'm sure they could find a way to make it work with charging the insurance because that's how it works in this country. But that really brings us back to a very narrow customer base and not the massive Amazon conglomerate we know and love today that put so many brick and mortar stores out of business.
 
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mass delivery of product by drones is not only - not profitable, but was a drain on the rest of the company.
Not surprising. I never thought it would be a profitable option for products that UPS and all the other delivery companies are and have been doing for years. One of the reasons I don’t own stock in the Bezos organization.
 
I just don't like Bezos and don't like his company so I don't order from them with one exception. I got a gift certificate so I bought an RC car from them at an already deep discount so I got it for $2.05. I live in a rural area and got notice that it was coming soon and a link to track it. The truck was 1 mile away but had six stops to go before me. Six stops a mile in a rural area is pretty dense coverage. Oh, and I also didn't think delivery by drone could work for a few reasons.
 
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I think it is a good thing all the way around.

Any research investment into drones is good for the community.

Any conclusion that companies should not be using the drone typical airspace is also good for the community.

The airspace is more like likely to be deconflicted by not being able to bump into an Amazon, Walmart or Google delivery drone. : )

I like the idea of drones only getting good press, not complaints.
 
companies like Amazon can sell products they way they do ,because they have the buying power to procure those products at a greatly reduced price ,from suppliers simply because of scale ,
but then they have to be able to distribute those products at scale as well which requires a very well run logistics division ,capable of working at speed with proven reliable technology
as we all know drones require very complex operating criteria ,to enable them to safely and reliably move between two points ,and as of now ,no matter what some people might think ,the world is nowhere near to having that technology ,to operate drones to accomplish such an undertaking ,in densely populated areas ,and with a load carrying capacity to make it a cost affective alternative
i accept that in certain parts of the world ,then using drones to reach isolated destinations,is something that can be accomplished ,and i think that as the technology improves we will see more and more of this use of drones
And more and more restrictions to the use of privately owned 'hobbyist' drones as a direct consequence. Commercialising the sub-120 metre airspace is a lot more lucrative a proposition to all Air Authorities than grubbing nine quid out of every drone owner once a year.
 
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@Felix le Chat you need to play catch up fellow flyer ,its not £9 any more try £12 for your next OP ID renewal ,and that could change ,and probably will ,but you can bet it wont be going down
 
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Well, 12 quid ain't bad as long as we have the freedom to operate, but I genuinely wish that OP number was the equivalent to an ARN - If that were the case, I'd be happy to pay an even higher fee.
 
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@Felix le Chat ,thats the problem right now ,all we can do is watch and wait for the outcome of the CAA reform of the Open regs for hobby flyers ,that is in the process of being reviewed right now ,i would love to get a larger drone such as the Mavic3 ,but until i know what category it will be flying in there is little point in spending around two grand for a drone that can only be flown in the A3 sub division of the open category ,or indeed even with my A2 C of C ,in the A2 category,with the distance and none overflight rules that apply to that weight of drone
 
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