r/gadgets • u/dapperlemon • 7d ago
Drones / UAVs Wing and Walmart are bringing drone deliveries to Denver and Seattle in 2027
https://www.engadget.com/2277395/wing-and-walmart-are-bringing-drone-deliveries-to-denver-and-seattle-in-2027/17
u/LostInUranus 6d ago
I hate this shit. We have them swarming over our house because we are close to Amazon. So much for enjoying my peaceful yard...
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u/yawningintothevoid 6d ago
No one wants drones flying around all hours of the day and night. No one is excited about it other than Amazon trying to find some new way to not pay people to do a job but instead have an AI fly drones and make service even shittier.
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u/AfraidOfTheSun 6d ago
I don't know if this is a hot take but isn't it all a charade? Because of what you're saying, not to mention it is not feasible in an urban setting with apartment buildings and whatnot (eg. Denver and Seattle).. If anything, rural drivers should be worried, a drone could easily bomb packages in to peoples front yards out in the middle of nowhere but it's never going to happen in cities
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u/Ryuko_the_red 52m ago
Not to mention the evil companies that these are will surely be putting cameras on the drones. Then using "Ai" to scan your yard and suggest things to you based on images and video that should never be.
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u/FireCootz 6d ago
My neighbor Walmart has these and it’s so unproblematic and they’re used heavily. They fly up so high that you don’t really notice them. They high enough that they appear the same size as your average plane. When they drop off your order the drone stays high and a little box on a rope repels down. It’s super convenient
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u/slog 6d ago
The concept is solid, but you're right about jobs and not much else. I definitely wouldn't want job loss, which is inevitable because Amazon, but the main issues I have are noise and discreet package locations. I'm fortunate enough to not have thieves regularly but I know that's not the case for everyone.
I do want my packages delivered right away and "as the crow flies" though.
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u/unspun66 6d ago
Are they just going to drop my package in the front yard rather than my covered porch, I assume. That’s great in seattle. Everything will be soaked. I guess they’ll have to wrap everything in plastic. This sucks.
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u/other_usernames_gone 5d ago
The goal of drone delivery is it'll be delivered in under half an hour. So it wouldn't be sitting outside for ages, you'd just order it for when you were in and walk out to collect it just after the drone drops it off.
If you're worried about it getting wet you either dont use drone delivery or wait until its not raining to order it.
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u/ghost_of_mr_chicken 5d ago
Alternatively, the real goal of drone delivery is data collection from above. Vehicle drivers can't see the yard, pool, patio, swingset, etc in your backyard.
More personalized ads incoming!
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u/FrothyFrogFarts 7d ago
JFC what a shit timeline
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u/JunosArmpits 6d ago
Why are you upset?
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u/SubjectCicada3862 6d ago
Have you looked at the night sky?
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u/JunosArmpits 6d ago
Okay so a shit timeline or a "dystopian nightmare" as another commenter said is when there might be moving LED lights in the night sky? Is that it?
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u/VoopityScoop 6d ago
Yeah man, a world where no part of nature exists without the greedy fingers of businessmen all over it sounds pretty shitty
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u/HWAnswersPlzThx 6d ago
The noise is insane. Read anyone’s experience in the towns that have been trying it out. Constant whirring overhead. Nightmare.
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u/Madroxx9000 6d ago
I live in Aurora CO. In my neighborhood we have a lot of drones that fly around at night. I can sit on my front porch and count at least 4-5 every hour. I live near Anschutz, so its rarely quiet here (sirens, flight for life, airplanes, drones, traffic, gunshots, fireworks, etc), but when it is I can hear the whine of drones above.
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u/Yarusenai 6d ago
It's...really not that bad. I live in a neighborhood that has several drones daily flying overhead from (I think) Amazon, or maybe it's Walmart. The noise is very negligible, if you're inside you don't hear them at all, if you're in the yard it's a very quiet whirring, not very loud at all. I didn't even know they were a thing until my wife informed me what that noise was. Honestly, they're quieter than a car so probably better for deliveries than those, and more environmentally friendly to boot.
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u/Tiddlychinks 6d ago
My city has it and I never hear or notice it, I’m usually inside my house when neighbors get deliveries. I guess it might be annoying during chillin outside season, but so are airplanes and helicopters
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u/phxtravis 6d ago
There is no way a passing passenger plane is more annoying than a drone as it hovers trying to find the delivery spot. Have you ever stood near a commercial level drone?
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u/Tiddlychinks 6d ago
I don’t know, my cousins live near an airport and the sound is pretty annoying sometimes. Also I’m pretty sure drones don’t need to “find” anything, they know what address they’re going to, hover overhead for a minute or two, then leave. You’re never standing near drones that deliver, they stay way up in the air.
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u/MixdNuts 6d ago
I live near a Wing Walmart in Ft Worth and they don’t fly at night here. Wing is very nice if you need just that one thing from the store. It keeps one more car off the road.
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u/NoNoNotorious85 6d ago
Well, having viewed the timeline where John Connor is the leader of a human resistance against a sentient AI program, that’s certainly a sign.
On a somewhat related note, your cliche sarcasm does not mask your need to seem superior to internet strangers over very silly things.
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u/crysisnotaverted 6d ago
Cool, you must either be a cave dweller and have never been near a drone. The propeller tips go literally 400 miles per hour, which is Mach 0.6.
They are massive and loud. It's fine on occasion but it will literally make you hate life if you are on one of the predetermined 'skyways' they will fly over.
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u/ratchetcoutoure 6d ago
I heard they are very noisy, there were a some noise complaints reports on the news. Wonder if there will be more noise complaints after this.
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u/_ogg 6d ago
I visited a Japanese garden in a quiet residential area in MI recently and there was an Amazon drone flying back and forth the whole time about 100’ overhead. It was definitely noisy (and a bit freaky).
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u/ARottenPear 6d ago
That sounds horrific. They need to regulate the flight paths of these things and only allow them to fly over roads or something. I live far far away from any major roads, highways, or steep roads because I hate road noise but I could potentially be in a popular flight path for these drones. I value my peace and quiet so much and I'd hate to have it ripped away so Sally can get her Dawn Powerwash™ refill quicker.
Assuming we can't stop these all together, we probably need to regulate when and where they can fly. I'm sure they won't because that would definitely limit their range if they can't go as the crow flies and our government cares more about corporations than us but a man can dream.
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u/playnasc 6d ago
The Amazon drones are egregious compared to Wing for what it's worth. They are much larger in size and with louder propellers. Amazon's drones have to hover and drop packages from about 10 feet above the ground (and sometimes into a pool). Wing also hovers but has a tether to drop packages. Don't get me wrong the Wing drones are still audible, but compared to Amazon's solution its like night and day.
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u/cyberspirit777 6d ago
They are bringing neighborhood mapping and noise pollution to Denver and Seattle in 2027
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u/MaximumConcept25 6d ago
I don’t think people really want this. Basically flying surveillance bombing me with packages. What happens if it crashes? How is this more environmentally friendly? This is really not solving any problems.
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u/TrontRaznik 6d ago
You're asking how a tiny electric drone is more environmentally friendly than a two ton car sitting in traffic? Do I have that right?
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u/FlyingBishop 6d ago
A Rivian EV gets 1.5-2.0 miles per kwh with 2000lbs of cargo.
These Wing drones get like 5-8 miles per kwh with 5 pounds of cargo.
You might want to think a bit more about why the drone is more environmentally friendly. Even if you're using a hummer the drone might be at best the same.
I just plugged it into AI and a Hummer H2 gets approximately 500 pound-miles per kwh vs. 25-40 for a drone. These things are catastrophically inefficient to the point that even if they're powered by wind and solar they might still be less environmentally friendly than a hummer.
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u/TbonerT 6d ago
It’s more complicated than pounds per kWh, you aren’t factoring in time.
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u/FlyingBishop 6d ago
it's pounds per kwh-mile. Yes technically waiting in traffic a car is going to be a little less efficient in extreme weather due to climate control, but the numbers are so wildly different it's not going to change the math. I'm not concerned with speed of delivery though, because that's irrelevant to "environmentally friendly."
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u/TbonerT 6d ago
You keep asserting that but I’m not convinced it’s true.
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u/FlyingBishop 6d ago
what do you disagree with about my math? distance and time are mostly the same thing. if you think that's wrong look at the idle power consumption for a rivian and do some worst-case analysis.
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u/TrontRaznik 6d ago
Because gophers are driving Rivians to make deliveries.
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u/FlyingBishop 6d ago
Amazon has many many Rivians and they're not running them empty, not sure what you're arguing. Did you miss the hummer comparison? These drones are probably about as bad for the environment as your typical doordasher carrying just the one item.
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u/AreYouOKAni 6d ago
What happens if it crashes?
If he dies, he dies xD.
How is this more environmentally friendly?
To be fair, moving a small electric vehicle is much easier than a large electric vehicle. So there is a benefit. It's just that the cons far outweigh it.
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u/TheArmoredKitten 6d ago
An electric truck uses a fraction of the watts/kg in payload costs
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u/AreYouOKAni 6d ago
Only if there is enough payload. Drones are great for small high-speed deliveries to rarely requested destinations. For everything else, there are
conveyor beltstrucks.1
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u/testificates 6d ago
You got downvoted, but it's hilarious that people don't realize that sometimes games are just logical puzzles and mathematical solutions are mathematical solutions. Like how AI keeps reinventing trains and public transportation.
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u/Yarusenai 6d ago
What happens if a car bringing you delivery crashes? Probably would be a lot more damaging. And what do you mean how is it more environmentally friendly? It doesn't use gas for one.
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u/TrontRaznik 6d ago
Technology sub hates technology, the gadget sub hates gadgets. I do too, because giving all you people cell phones was the worst thing that ever happened to the Internet
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u/To-To_Man 6d ago
The internet was a much nicer place before cell phones could open browsers.
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u/Chief_H 6d ago
No it wasn't! Some of the most vile content existed in the pre-phone internet.
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u/To-To_Man 6d ago
Vile content is a natural consequence of an unmoderated, anonymous, and decentralized network. I am in no way saying the Internet is worse because mobile and extremely casual users are now uploading unprecedented amounts of vile content. The internet is worse both because the obscenely casual, ever present nature of it. As well as the market that phones enabled to grow around it, spurring a very quick digital monopoly over what was supposed to be a highly independent network of communities.
Today, the internet cannot be walked away from. And the most lazy and clueless users have voices as loud as experienced professionals and passionate hobbyists. Even if you personally have the wherewithal to put the phone down and walk away from social media when it's getting to you, your met with everyone else complaining about it for you.
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u/NumeralJoker 6d ago
But it wasn't widespread, and it was all quickly condemned.
4chan used to be infamous for taking down white supremacists Hal Turner until the white supremacists themselves realized they could flood the board and the more normal users moved to sites like this one. The app based economy accelerated this all too, particularly because of engagement algorithms.
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u/GDelscribe 6d ago
This is just outright revisionism. 4chan and the like have been bad since somethingawful.
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u/FlipMeOverUpsidedown 5d ago
Were there two internets? Cuz I’ve been online since being online became a thing and my version of the internet was pretty nasty.
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u/To-To_Man 5d ago
The internet was always nasty. But now it's nasty and polluted with hyper-casual users who enable megacorps to swallow up the internet. Like I said in another reply, the ability to walk away from the Internet is lost on the modern demographic as their gateway to the internet is in their pockets at all times.
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u/EggsaladJoseph 6d ago
It's such a tired cliche when people pretend "everyone hates technology". When technologies are part of systems of control its pretty obvious why people are skeptical of it.
Not sure why you would blindly support every single technology and tech product that is released and get mad when people criticize it
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u/Throwawayforyoink1 6d ago
For sure. I forgot I was subbed. Technology and Gadgets are too big and filled with toxic doomerism opinions. I prefer using the smaller tech subs.
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u/JC_Hysteria 1d ago
Worse than refusing culture and replacing it with politics?
Or is that just downstream of people having cell phones + data collection on engagement?
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u/Skyhawk_Squawk 7d ago
Boo! What a dystopian nightmare.
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u/Neo_Techni 5d ago
You have been fined 2 credits for violation of the verbal morality statute.
Also, with a username like yours you'd think you'd like airborne things. Though maybe not the ones messing with your living things
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u/DGVET 6d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/3oriO5t2QB4IPKgxHi
Republicans sold you the “Big Beautiful Bill” promising tax breaks for the rich would create American jobs. You really think Amazon and Walmart will spend that windfall hiring you when they can spend it figuring out how to operate without you? 😂 Guess the money trickled up and the jobs flew away. Big and beautiful for whom?
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u/The_Taint_Whisperer 6d ago
Fuck Walmart
We have successfully prevented Walmart from setting up shop in Seattle and we don’t want their stupid drones.
We need public shaming of the addresses that receive Walmart drone delivery.
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u/biscuitcat22 6d ago
as someone whose house gets various companies drones flown over about 20 times a day now, enjoy the noise
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u/angrybirdseller 6d ago
I see, I am too lazy to pick up bag of cheetos at walmart the drone can bomb my deck with bag or two lol. 🤔
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u/RadSapper313 6d ago
Explains the funny lights I’ve been seeing that aren’t planes flying patterns the past two evenings.
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u/ttubehtnitahwtahw1 6d ago
Let see this deliver 4 cases of waters, dog food, and cat liter. cause thats about all that people ever get from walmart.
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u/DaddyBison 6d ago
i keep asking myself, who actually wants these? who wants self driving cars or delivery drones? It does not improve the experience of those services, it just takes jobs away from hardworking people and put money in the pocket of corporations
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u/Angelexodus 5d ago
I have one 1.3 miles from my house for the last year and they do not deliver where the previous drone 3rd party did. It’s fun for the kids.
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u/trench_spike 6d ago
Will the surveillance cameras come preinstalled on the delivery drones? Sounds like a great way to multitask. /s
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u/JC_Hysteria 1d ago
I saw a high def image of my home the last time I used a maps/navigation app after typing my address- seemingly from a Google Earth satellite…
Delivery drones didn’t do that.
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u/ChefCurryYumYum 6d ago
I hope they are untenable, I hope people target them, and the whole thing is ended.
What a nightmare, to have a fleet of drones flying over residential areas, at risk of crashing and causing serious damage and injury, not to mention things like noise, privacy (you think they won't put cameras on this shit?).
I hate it.
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u/narwhalyurok 6d ago
Hopefully, you don't live near a Walmart parking lot that has a fleet. In our Texas neighborhood, those large drones take off constantly during daylight hours.
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u/ihavenoidea12345678 6d ago
Last week a kid forgot cleats at the soccer game, we checked to see if drone delivery was available in the region.
Amazon had the product, but we were out of the drone region. It would have been an awesome save. And maybe a nightmare if millions of drones are always buzzing about.
Need some kind of limit on frequency of use.
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u/OptimisticSkeleton 6d ago
Just pay your fucking employees. I’ll cheer for Walmart when they are not responsible for the largest group of welfare recipients in this nation.
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u/Neo_Techni 5d ago
Just pay your fucking employees
Or we can use the drones to retrieve our employees on demand, wherever they may be! You'll see people in Walmart uniforms being chased down by a swarm of them
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u/OptimisticSkeleton 5d ago
“The only thing that can counter a bad guy with a drone is a good guy with a drone”
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u/Julio_Ointment 6d ago
I don't want this.
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u/OozeNAahz 6d ago
Denver seems an odd place for this. Temp swings and low temps in general plus the high altitude would seem to be detrimental to predictable drone performance.
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u/TenTopGolfer 6d ago
Im sure this will work GREAT with the completely mild and predictable weather of the PNW 🙄
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u/edgeplot 6d ago
Will these things be flying over houses? I don't want drones flying over my house. Next thing you know they'll be used like ALPRs also.
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u/RockettSocks42 5d ago
Urban kids, do your thing. You saved us from self checkouts, you can meet this challenge!
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u/kennedye2112 6d ago
NGL, I'm genuinely curious to se one of these things in action. Although I don't know how well it's going to do in Seattle, we have lots of trees.
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u/melancholy_dood 6d ago
How do they cope with bad weather?
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6d ago
[deleted]
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u/Kaylee-X 6d ago
I didn't downvote you, but this is objectively wrong. There's no such thing as rotor power = maximum flyable wind condition. You can design basically any aircraft to operate in any flow condition within reason. Except for sub micro scale palm sized things where the inverse square law really takes it's toll.
Where wind becomes an issue is if you have a machine that is designed for forward flight(large wing area)attempt to land /hover in high winds/confined spaces autonomously... You can design around this, but you really would not have to change current designs much unless you want to land in someone's front yard in 60mph winds.
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u/CataclysmSolace 7d ago
It's was only a matter of time before drone delivery became more mainstream
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u/Switchmisty9 6d ago
Why would you want that?
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u/beIIe-and-sebastian 6d ago edited 6d ago
Sure beats the hell out of having to interact with doordash.
No hidden service charges, no tipping, no stealing or eating the orders.
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u/calebmke 6d ago
Free delivery isn’t free
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u/Aggressive-Hawk9186 6d ago
why do you even interact? I order on the app, the drivers drops it by my door, that's it
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u/BigTonyT30 6d ago
How about just go get the shit yourself and save the $10-15 on delivery fee and tip? There’s no hidden service charges for doing it yourself.
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u/Switchmisty9 6d ago
lol you must be a GIANT piece of shit, to think you are somehow superior, with your ✨checks notes✨….Walmart at-home deliveries…..too fuckin lazy to head down there, are we?
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u/beIIe-and-sebastian 6d ago edited 6d ago
Not 'too fuckin lazy', or a GIANT piece of shit as you eloquently put it, just a disabled person that is unable to make journeys to stores in person. I'm sorry if you're offended that as a vulnerable person, I've had frequent issues with the quality of the personnel that deliver and would rather cut out the middleman.
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u/Switchmisty9 6d ago
You edited your original comment, to remove your derogatory statement toward DoorDash drivers. You do not deserve any sympathy. I stand by my statement
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u/TrontRaznik 6d ago
You don't have to justify convenience to anyone. People who feel pride for something as silly as going to the store are bizarre, and I suspect most of the time it's because they can't afford to have stuff delivered and calling other people lazy just makes them feel better about themselves.
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u/mavgeek 6d ago
Won’t happen. For something to be mainstream and a daily thing, it has to be a daily thing. Weather will not allow these things to fly a lot of the time. Like just last week in my city we had a huge rain storm, 18 mph winds and several feet of rain fall. A drone would not be able to fly in that. It can’t be mainstream if it only works “sometimes” it can’t be mainstream if it only works when the weather allows it to. Like a package was supposed to be delivered on a Monday but now gets delayed because of a big storm so maybe you’ll get it Tuesday but if it came thru normal human delivery you’d still get it Monday. Customers will pitch a fit over delays because of weather when a human could still do it
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u/Hardlink 6d ago
Noone though doordash would be as big as it is. I know more then a few people that have there groceries delivered I have mine picked out by the store and picked them up. Drone delivered is going to be a thing sooner rather than later
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u/narwhalyurok 6d ago
Walmart drones have happened. Trains happened... people said they wouldn't happen. Airplanes happened ... people said planes wouldn't happen.
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u/Sparklemagick 6d ago
its walmart. they will fuck it up and the program will be canceled in a month.
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u/MixdNuts 6d ago
Walmart is the most successful retailer of all time. What do you mean they will fuck it up? 😂
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u/wallyrules75 6d ago
I can’t wait till police are running around trying to catch drone thieves. Great use of tax payers dollars. But will get killer episodes of Cops Drones Wars
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u/Ketanyaran 6d ago
Can I shoot them down if they fly over my property? No Walmart use in this home for over two years and I'm never going back.
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u/Neo_Techni 5d ago
Can I shoot them down if they fly over my property?
Once. The next drone will be armed
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u/WhichCarry749 6d ago
Sound will have these grounded half the winter.