Wing Starts Walmart Drone Deliveries in Memphis Ahead of Amazon
Drone delivery company Wing began delivering Walmart orders by drone around Memphis, US, on 10 November. Amazon, which promoted its own service for the city in June, has still given no start date.
Wing, a US drone delivery company, began delivering orders from retailer Walmart by drone in the Memphis area on 10 November. Service runs from three Walmart Supercenters: Bartlett and Cordova in Tennessee, and West Memphis in Arkansas. It is Wing's first market in Tennessee and its sixth US metro area with Walmart. Rival Amazon showed off a delivery drone in Memphis in June but has not yet launched there.
How it works
Customers can order through the Walmart app, Walmart.com or Wing's own app. Wing says delivery can take as little as 30 minutes. Each flight carries up to 1.25 kilograms (2.75 pounds). Local station WMC Action News 5 reports the fee is $19.99 per order, while the City of West Memphis says Walmart+ members pay nothing for a limited time. Wing's own announcement does not state a price.
The aircraft cruise at 46 to 61 metres at up to 97 km/h, then hover at about 7 metres and lower the package on a tether. Wing says the payload limit will rise to 2.3 kilograms (five pounds) soon, without giving a date.
Background
In June, Wing and Walmart named seven cities for expansion: Memphis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Salt Lake City and the San Francisco Bay Area. Memphis is the first where deliveries have actually started. Heather Rivera, Wing's chief business officer, said the company wants to be "a helpful, good neighbor" to the metro area.
West Memphis held a ribbon-cutting with the mayor on 2 November, but the service was not yet available at that point. Wing announced operations at all three stores eight days later.
At a 16 June event at the Memphis convention centre, Amazon promised deliveries within 12.1 kilometres of its own facility: five-pound parcels for $4.99 for Prime members and $9.99 for others. As of 12 November, Amazon's Prime Air website still lists Memphis as "Coming soon" with no start date.
Separately, the US Federal Aviation Administration's Part 108 rule on routine flights beyond visual line of sight has been under White House review since 10 July.
