Supply Chain Satire
Walmart Adds 300 Drone Sites For Frosting
A multiyear Zipline deal expands drone delivery to more doorsteps. Missing cake ingredients are the stated use case.
Based on real news: Walmart Expands Nation's Largest Retail Drone Delivery Operation with 300 New Zipline Sites (Walmart (via Perishable News))
BENTONVILLE, Ark.—Walmart said it will add 300 drone delivery sites nationwide under a new multiyear agreement with Zipline, expanding what it calls the country's largest retail drone program after more than 2 million deliveries to date.
The retailer said tens of thousands of eligible items can arrive in as little as 30 minutes where the service is available, dropped in a front yard, backyard or driveway while a drone waits roughly 330 feet up and a pod descends on a tether. Ninety percent of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart, a fact the company mentioned as if it were a runway.
"Customers try drone delivery for the novelty and then continue to come back when they need something in minutes," Greg Cathey, a Walmart eCommerce fulfillment executive, said in the company's announcement. The examples in the release included frosting for a birthday cake, coffee and creamer on a Monday and a pack of tennis balls.
Customers try drone delivery for the novelty and then continue to come back when they need something in minutes…
A fictional cake in Royse City, Texas, was frosted at 5:41 p.m. after a drone delivered the missing tub at 5:39. The cake had been cooling since 5:12. Logistics call that a closed loop.
Container DSKU 401177-3 remains in transit on Day 941. I checked it at 5:35 a.m., one minute earlier than yesterday. No tether. No frosting. Status unchanged.
At press time a fictional neighborhood association had asked whether a drone delivering mustard counted as a guest. The mustard declined to RSVP.
Zipline said it has flown 150 million commercial autonomous miles without a major safety incident, a statistic that sits beside the frosting use case without blinking. Eligible shoppers see the option in the Walmart app or on Walmart.com when their address is in range, and can also order through Zipline's app. Same-day at Walmart now includes drone minutes, 30-minute delivery, Express, on-demand and scheduled windows, which is five ways to admit you forgot an ingredient.
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Riffing on: Walmart Expands Nation's Largest Retail Drone Delivery Operation with 300 New Zipline Sites, Walmart (via Perishable News)