In This City, Toilet Paper Comes From The Sky Thanks To Google’s Drones

Forbes ^ | 04/09/20 | Jeremy Bogaisky

[Enlightened1]

The Virginia town of Christianburg is getting a preview of what life will be like when delivery by drone becomes practical. Forced to stay at home amid the coronavirus pandemic, more residents are ordering from a pilot residential delivery service run by Wing, a unit of Google parent Alphabet, the company says. The most popular items: Coffee, toilet paper and cookies.

Wing says it’s made more than 1,000 deliveries over the past two weeks in Christianburg and at test sites in Helsinki and two Australian cities where movement has also been restricted to stem the spread of the disease. “That’s a dramatic increase from our standard rates,” says Jacob Demmitt, a spokesman for Wing.

The company won’t break out numbers for Christianburg.

A local bakery and a coffee roaster recently added to the service are hoping that drone delivery will help keep them afloat. In their first day of availability on Saturday, which has been the busiest day for Wing, Mockingbird Café owner Donna Speaks says that drone delivery customers bought roughly double the number of croissants, muffins and almond macarons that she would normally sell in store. “Right now it’s a super great bonus for us,” she told Forbes.

Wing has been offering delivery of Walgreens merchandise in Christianburg since October, making it the first residential drone delivery service in the U.S., under a program run by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to test integration of unmanned aircraft into airspace in 10 locations around the country.

The merchandise is stocked at a Wing facility, from which drones fly at a cruising altitude of 150 feet and a speed of 65 mph over the town of 22,000 people. When a drone gets to its destination, it descends to 23 feet and lowers a laminated paper cargo box...

[Enlightened1]

Here comes the pitch from the Technocrats on why we should use Drones.

[mythenjoseph]

So a guy is somewhere controlling this thing getting paid? as opposed to one guy in a car doing multiple deliveries as in an UBER/grubhub type thing? Drones have weight limitations and if its windy?...stupid idea and I am not comfortable with things flying above (manmade)....got that from the service...I tend to notice airplanes and choppers and want to know whose it is.

[The Accused]

Better the TP coming from the sky rather than the stuff it’s suppose to clean.

[SanchoP]

LOOK OUT! IT'S COMING RIGHT FOR US!!!

[JediJones]

[Flick Lives]

The picture of the drone on the website looks fake. The drone itself looks more like an aircraft than anything capable of hovering. The family in the photo isn’t even looking up at the drone which is over their house.