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Another interesting discovery for me.. This 'Wing' drone delivery is actually an Alphabet (Google) company, and they have "found success in Australian suburbs,

by achow 5y ago

Another interesting discovery for me.. This 'Wing' drone delivery is actually an Alphabet (Google) company, and they have "found success in Australian suburbs, recently hitting 100,000 deliveries milestone." [1] Anyone from Australia care to tell how much it costs to deliver a (or multiple) cups of coffee using this service? [1] https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/25/22640833/drone-delivery-google-alphabet-wing-milestone https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/25/22640833/drone-delivery-g...

echelon 5y ago
This should be a top level thread. I'm blown away that this is a real service and that it's hit 100k transactions. That's incredible!
- formerly_proven 5y ago
  Not the good kind of incredible though.
- seoulmetro 5y ago
  100k transactions is easy to hit when you've got funding. Which, given the amount of legal lobbying this drone stuff has rushed, doesn't seem like a problem. Run discounts of 50% on first drone orders, or even just run discounts for first few months. People have proven that they love a bit of interesting fun for a high price. Look at shared scooters, most scooter usage is for fun and "I want to try them". Just because a company is doing transactions doesn't make it a good company. This is just money at work, money can create "businesses" that shouldn't exist. Then people get too tangled up in the fake business that it's impossible to live without, all the while never actually earning profits you'd expect from a "good, large business".
  - propogandist 5y ago
    > money can create "businesses" that shouldn't exist. Then people get too tangled up in the fake business that it's impossible to live without, all the while never actually earning profits you'd expect from a "good, large business". like Uber, Lyft, Snapchat, DoorDash and many recent IPOs of terrible businesses that went public to make investors rich, while being terrible, money losing operations
    - seoulmetro 5y ago
      Exactly. A lot of food delivery companies too. WeWork, etc. Lots of floating bad stuff that people are just too afraid to rock lest it fall over. But then one big gust of wind... As someone who doesn't use these services due to how dodgy they are. I might be very biased. But I sure feel like we can do better than what this laziness achieves.
mongol 5y ago
I am shaking my head. Is this the future we are entering? Drones delivering coffee? Super-annoying sound to further drown any hope of tranquility in the mornings. There are certainly many meaningful uses of drones, but delivering coffee is not one of them.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  Agreed. Medication to inaccessible spots: fine. Coffee to spoiled yuppies: really not the way to go.
  - BigJono 5y ago
    Those spoiled yuppies paying a 50%+ markup on coffee just to have it delivered by drone are the ones subsidising the research and engineering efforts that go towards delivering medicine to inacessible spots. If the market isn't there then the investment isn't either.
    - elliekelly 5y ago
      > If the market isn't there then the investment isn't either. This is probably news to a lot of VCs who regularly make investments in hope of an eventual market.
    - IgorPartola 5y ago
      This feels like one of those feel good bullshit quips that is probably technically sort of true but only partially or some such. But I haven’t had my coffee delivered so I am not all there yet to figure out what the fallacy is.
      - samhw 5y ago
        The response to this is normally the same as the response to trophy hunting subsidising conservation: namely, "yeah, that's true, but reality shouldn't be that way". I don't find that a very compelling argument, but apparently some people do.
      - 5y ago
xattt 5y ago
It almost seems that the original post is a humblebrag promo about the Wing delivery service, to get us aware about some newfangled product/service via some quirk or curiosity. But I could be cynical.
- acrobatsunfish 5y ago
  It's on LinkedIn, everything is an ad
- ravendroneguy 5y ago
  Nah mate I legit just like it
technion 5y ago
I'm a four hour drive from the test area but I tried to look into costs. It seems they do quite a few things beyond just coffee: https://wing.com/en_au/australia/canberra/ https://wing.com/en_au/australia/canberra/ All the stores listed appear to only show their on-premises offerings, with some saying "download the app now" for a delivery price. The fact I apparently can't place an order or even see a price on a desktop has to hurt sales.
- neaanopri 5y ago
  I know their "pet" category is pet food, but it's just so funny to imagine that drone lowering a kitten to you
seldom0 5y ago
Here's something to consider: "xjet - The real reason Google is delivering stuff by drone" https://yewtu.be/watch?v=asJ8GSQZjGk https://yewtu.be/watch?v=asJ8GSQZjGk Some speculation into the pricing reveals that they are doing deliveries well below cost and perhaps free as an investment to get their number of successful deliveries up. Google is vying to gain license to be the de-facto ubiquitous drone flight traffic control service.

by achow 5y ago

echelon 5y ago

This should be a top level thread. I'm blown away that this is a real service and that it's hit 100k transactions. That's incredible!

formerly_proven 5y ago
Not the good kind of incredible though.
seoulmetro 5y ago
100k transactions is easy to hit when you've got funding. Which, given the amount of legal lobbying this drone stuff has rushed, doesn't seem like a problem. Run discounts of 50% on first drone orders, or even just run discounts for first few months. People have proven that they love a bit of interesting fun for a high price. Look at shared scooters, most scooter usage is for fun and "I want to try them". Just because a company is doing transactions doesn't make it a good company. This is just money at work, money can create "businesses" that shouldn't exist. Then people get too tangled up in the fake business that it's impossible to live without, all the while never actually earning profits you'd expect from a "good, large business".
- propogandist 5y ago
  > money can create "businesses" that shouldn't exist. Then people get too tangled up in the fake business that it's impossible to live without, all the while never actually earning profits you'd expect from a "good, large business". like Uber, Lyft, Snapchat, DoorDash and many recent IPOs of terrible businesses that went public to make investors rich, while being terrible, money losing operations
  - seoulmetro 5y ago
    Exactly. A lot of food delivery companies too. WeWork, etc. Lots of floating bad stuff that people are just too afraid to rock lest it fall over. But then one big gust of wind... As someone who doesn't use these services due to how dodgy they are. I might be very biased. But I sure feel like we can do better than what this laziness achieves.

mongol 5y ago

I am shaking my head. Is this the future we are entering? Drones delivering coffee? Super-annoying sound to further drown any hope of tranquility in the mornings. There are certainly many meaningful uses of drones, but delivering coffee is not one of them.

jacquesm 5y ago
Agreed. Medication to inaccessible spots: fine. Coffee to spoiled yuppies: really not the way to go.
- BigJono 5y ago
  Those spoiled yuppies paying a 50%+ markup on coffee just to have it delivered by drone are the ones subsidising the research and engineering efforts that go towards delivering medicine to inacessible spots. If the market isn't there then the investment isn't either.
  - elliekelly 5y ago
    > If the market isn't there then the investment isn't either. This is probably news to a lot of VCs who regularly make investments in hope of an eventual market.
  - IgorPartola 5y ago
    This feels like one of those feel good bullshit quips that is probably technically sort of true but only partially or some such. But I haven’t had my coffee delivered so I am not all there yet to figure out what the fallacy is.
    - samhw 5y ago
      The response to this is normally the same as the response to trophy hunting subsidising conservation: namely, "yeah, that's true, but reality shouldn't be that way". I don't find that a very compelling argument, but apparently some people do.
    - 5y ago

xattt 5y ago

It almost seems that the original post is a humblebrag promo about the Wing delivery service, to get us aware about some newfangled product/service via some quirk or curiosity. But I could be cynical.

acrobatsunfish 5y ago
It's on LinkedIn, everything is an ad
ravendroneguy 5y ago
Nah mate I legit just like it

technion 5y ago

I'm a four hour drive from the test area but I tried to look into costs. It seems they do quite a few things beyond just coffee: https://wing.com/en_au/australia/canberra/ https://wing.com/en_au/australia/canberra/ All the stores listed appear to only show their on-premises offerings, with some saying "download the app now" for a delivery price. The fact I apparently can't place an order or even see a price on a desktop has to hurt sales.

neaanopri 5y ago
I know their "pet" category is pet food, but it's just so funny to imagine that drone lowering a kitten to you

seldom0 5y ago

Here's something to consider: "xjet - The real reason Google is delivering stuff by drone" https://yewtu.be/watch?v=asJ8GSQZjGk https://yewtu.be/watch?v=asJ8GSQZjGk Some speculation into the pricing reveals that they are doing deliveries well below cost and perhaps free as an investment to get their number of successful deliveries up. Google is vying to gain license to be the de-facto ubiquitous drone flight traffic control service.