AMAZON’S DELIVERY DRONES
★★★★★ (1 out of 5)
Hello, and welcome to my week-by-week review of everything in the world. Today I am reviewing Amazon’s delivery drones.
It was recently announced that the internet department store Amazon will begin delivering packages in as little as 30 minutes using remote controlled helicopters. As neat as I think toy helicopters are, this plan seems poorly thought out.
What if I order something that’s too heavy for the helicopter? Like a rock. I buy a lot of rocks. If it proves to be too much weight for the helicopter and it crashes and drops a bunch of rocks on someones head I will feel just awful. And then someone else will get all my rocks. Could I order more rocks? Of course. Would they be the same rocks? Not at all. And I wouldn’t want any rocks with blood stains on them anyway.
It’s likely a lot of hunters will mistake the helicopters for birds and shoot them down. Then the hunter’s dogs will go to retrieve the kill and get electrocuted. This will be disappointing to hunters and unfair to dogs. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the ASPCA steps in.
It’s also only a matter of time before someone orders a gun and accidentally sends it to the wrong house? An innocent person could get shot. The only upside I see is that if that person isn’t so innocent, he or she could order some medical supplies and have them arrive quickly. If the supplies didn’t arrive in time, Amazon could get sued.
For me, 30 minutes is still to slow. Because the majority of my purchases are impulse buys, I don’t want to wait a full half-hour before whatever I want arrives. With the current wait time of a few days, I have likely forgotten about my package by the time it comes. The surprise of its arrival makes it feel like an impulse buy all over again.
While everyone knows Santa probably isn’t real, if he is, this delivery service could be useful for him. No more having to squeeze down a chimney when he can send a helicopter instead. Unfortunately, helicopters can’t eat cookies and milk.
Another group of possibly real people are truck drivers. I’ve only spoken to them on my CB radio and never seen one outside of a movie, but if they exist, this could put a lot of them out of work. If that happens, I won’t have anyone to talk to on my CB radio.
Please join me next week when I’ll be reviewing a napkin.
