Walmart Expanding Drone Delivery in Six States

<p>Walmart&comma; the nation&&num;8217&semi;s largest retailer&comma; is expanding delivery with DroneUp&comma; a Virginia Beach based company specializing in drone technology&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Walmart plans to expand its DroneUp delivery network to 34 sites by the end the year&comma; providing the potential to reach 4 million U&period;S&period; households across six states – Arizona&comma; Arkansas&comma; Florida&comma; Texas&comma; Utah and Virginia&period; This provides Walmart the ability to deliver over 1 million packages by drone in a year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Between the hours of 8&colon;00 a&period;m&period; and 8&colon;00 p&period;m&period;&comma; customers will be able to order from tens of thousands of eligible items&comma; such as Tylenol&comma; diapers and hot dog buns&comma; for delivery by air in as little as 30 minutes&period; For a delivery fee of &dollar;3&period;99&comma; customers can order items totaling up to 10 pounds that can be carried safely by drone&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Walmart has already completed hundreds of deliveries ovr the past few months across its existing DroneUp hubs&period; The company says it has seen firsthand how drones can offer customers a practical solution for getting certain items&comma; fast&period; More importantly&comma; Walmart says it has received a positive response from customers that have used the service&period; In fact&comma; while the company initially thought customers would use the service for emergency items&comma; many are using it for sheer convenience&comma; like a quick fix for a weeknight meal&period; Case in point&colon; The top-selling item at one of the current hubs is Hamburger Helper&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Participating Walmart stores will house a DroneUp delivery hub inclusive of a team of certified pilots&comma; operating within FAA guidelines&comma; that safely manage flight operations for deliveries&period; Once a customer places an order&comma; the item is fulfilled from the store&comma; packaged&comma; loaded into the drone and delivered right to their yard using a cable that gently lowers the package&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Walmart has been using drivers nationwide from Doordash and Uber Eats to fulfill delivery orders&period; These contract drivers use their own cars to make deliveries which include both groceries and other store items&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;