5 ms·
That's a last mile solution. Comparing to human costs of Amazon's preferred shipping method: USPS's subsidized parcel injection. The last mile belongs to USPS.
by anton_tarasenko 10y ago
That's a last mile solution.
Comparing to human costs of Amazon's preferred shipping method: USPS's subsidized parcel injection. The last mile belongs to USPS. In the urban environment, that's about 15 minute per parcel at $20 per hour (labor plus trucks). I.e., $5 per parcel. For FedEx, the cost of the entire expedition process is roughly $6.6 per parcel ($43bn cost of revenue for 6.5bn deliveries), so the last mile costs less than that.
Flirtey CEO Matt Sweeny suggests $10 per drone delivery. He doesn't specify from where. I assume he also means the last mile.
Are drones more expensive than humans? Air is expensive. Think of helicopters vs cars. With all congestion, helicopters have not become the vehicle of choice. They're noisy and can land only in certain locations. Most urban areas are too dangerous for them.
Air drones inherit these disadvantages.
As for Amazon, it'd have to stop outsourcing delivery to postal services and build a lot of physical infrastructure. Few tech companies are comfortable with this because they become capital intensive businesses, which they don't like.
So, not Amazon and not air drones. Perhaps ground vehicles within city borders and only after cars learn driving without humans. That's 5-10 more years.
- Ph0X 10y agois 10$ the cost the customer pays, or the cost of the delivery? I highly doubt the little electricity (or maintenance cost over time) is 10$ per delivery. Also, as a straight comparison, drones are faster, scale better and are able to work at hours humans wouldn't. So even if it was 5$ vs 10$, some could argue that it's worth it. Obviously not in all situations, but sometimes there's an item you need right now and not tomorrow.
- anton_tarasenko 10y ago$10 is the "willingness to pay" (the number is in the article). There's no good estimate of drone delivery costs since the interested parties cherrypick locations and distance.
- snuxoll 10y agoI'm certain drone delivery will be a premium service for some time to come, even with Amazon working tirelessly to do their own logistics the cost of purchasing drones, maintaining them, keeping enough spare batteries charged, etc. is not $0. I already pay $4 at minimum for next-day delivery with Amazon Prime, if they want to charge me $6 to get a kit of memory or a cable in 30 minutes instead of having to drive to Best Buy (and pay a lot more than $6 extra for) I would happily do so.
- mabbo 10y ago> it'd have to stop outsourcing delivery to postal services and build a lot of physical infrastructure What do you think Amazon has spent the last couple years doing? Amazon Flex isn't just some gimmick, it's part of a huge push into adding last-mile capabilities.
- mikeash 10y agoThese drones are a lot smaller than helicopters, which will avoid many of the disadvantages of helicopters. It'll greatly reduce noise, fuel consumption, and risk of injury or death, and greatly increase the number of places where it can take off and land.
- petra 10y agoAmazon pays usps $2 per package, not $5: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-30/it-s-amazon-s-world-the-usps-just-delivers-in-it https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-30/it-s-amaz...