"The Delivery Wars": Robots vs. Drones vs. People(bits.blogs.nytimes.com)
bits.blogs.nytimes.com
"The Delivery Wars": Robots vs. Drones vs. People
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/disruptions-at-your-door-in-minutes-delivered-by-robot/
"The Delivery Wars," are coming, where mini robots, jet-powered drones & the pizza delivery guy, are all racing to your frontdoor.
1 comments
The biggest question for me is if it will be cheaper to have same day or same hour delivery by drone than just walking or driving to the store and buying it. I use Amazon now because for almost every single item, Amazon is the cheapest place to buy it and I'm willing to wait a day or two to save 10-20% than if I bought it somewhere locally. If getting a drone to fly it out to me costs an extra 10-20% on the item, that basically negates the value of using Amazon to me.
Articles like this also beg the question, why doesn't Wal-Mart do delivery right now? If pizza can do it, why doesn't Wal-Mart have delivery guy at each location that fulfills local orders from Wal-Mart.com? Either 1) They've never even though of that (not likely) or 2) they evaluated that option and figured out it wasn't economical. I doubt having a drone swarm is going to be cheaper than paying some teenager minimum wage to drive around in his car delivering stuff (at least anytime soon).
Articles like this also beg the question, why doesn't Wal-Mart do delivery right now? If pizza can do it, why doesn't Wal-Mart have delivery guy at each location that fulfills local orders from Wal-Mart.com? Either 1) They've never even though of that (not likely) or 2) they evaluated that option and figured out it wasn't economical. I doubt having a drone swarm is going to be cheaper than paying some teenager minimum wage to drive around in his car delivering stuff (at least anytime soon).
"that basically negates the value of using Amazon"
Then you don't have to go there, which has some costs.
I'm surprised no prescription/OTC mobile drug store service exists. Seems an obvious "start up" delivery service.
Another obvious one is once you have kids, suddenly going to the store has all the behind the scenes effort and stage drama of a major theatrical production.
Bad weather.
Chronic illness / old age / extreme final days of pregnancy.
There is another problem with the walmart example; its extremely rural roots. I never set foot in one until the 00s or whatever when they started aggressively expanding into urban / suburban areas. I estimate that the majority of their stores are still in extremely low population density rural areas, even if the majority of American shoppers are vaguely urban-ish. So it would be easy to roll out a delivery service for the store (or pizza restaurant) in the loop of downtown Chicago, but not so easy in rural Louisiana.
There is also an interesting demographic issue where walmart shoppers have something of a financial reputation. I tend not to eat grains much but recently ordered a dominos pizza anyway, and was surprised its something like $20. Given the reputation of the walmart demographic I don't think they would get many sales at 150% of supermarket prices for ... anything.
Then you don't have to go there, which has some costs.
I'm surprised no prescription/OTC mobile drug store service exists. Seems an obvious "start up" delivery service.
Another obvious one is once you have kids, suddenly going to the store has all the behind the scenes effort and stage drama of a major theatrical production.
Bad weather.
Chronic illness / old age / extreme final days of pregnancy.
There is another problem with the walmart example; its extremely rural roots. I never set foot in one until the 00s or whatever when they started aggressively expanding into urban / suburban areas. I estimate that the majority of their stores are still in extremely low population density rural areas, even if the majority of American shoppers are vaguely urban-ish. So it would be easy to roll out a delivery service for the store (or pizza restaurant) in the loop of downtown Chicago, but not so easy in rural Louisiana.
There is also an interesting demographic issue where walmart shoppers have something of a financial reputation. I tend not to eat grains much but recently ordered a dominos pizza anyway, and was surprised its something like $20. Given the reputation of the walmart demographic I don't think they would get many sales at 150% of supermarket prices for ... anything.
Can you operate a drone cheaper than 56.5c a mile? If so, it's a better deal.
The point to point nature of drones make in city delivery incredibly attractive
I can't see many years being required to beat that.
The point to point nature of drones make in city delivery incredibly attractive
I can't see many years being required to beat that.
That mileage cost doesn't take into account human labor.
And pizza places don't really take that mileage cost into account always either. It's often flat per delivery, etc
But it's a very good floor. Higher may still be valuable, but lower than that almost certainly is
But it's a very good floor. Higher may still be valuable, but lower than that almost certainly is