Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/12/14/amazon-prime-airs-first-dro.html
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Ahh, springtime, when the sound of incessant flying leaf blowers from drone traffic sparks a young man’s desire to order a shotgun, ballistic net, and trained anti-drone golden eagle from Amazon!
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I’m just glad the delivery wasn’t a Hellfire missile.
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I’ve found drones to be inaudible if they are flying over a hundred feet or so. Admittedly one that could carry packages would be a bit larger and probably louder than what I’ve been around, but it is entirely possible you’d only hear them when taking off and landing.
Though I hope we move to airship drones. It would be awesome to see small zeppelins everywhere.
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I have a feeling Amazon is going to be really important the next few years.
https://www.prjktruby.com/2016/02/25/drone-delivered-birth-control-is-first-of-its-kind/
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So, we all recognize that this is an unrealistic gimmick, right?
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Maybe, maybe not. Taking humans out of the equation saves a heckuva lot of money, you know. And most thefts of deliveries are by delivery personnel, as well, whom are eliminated here.
You don’t even necessarily have to have humans packaging or loading the orders o.o’ .
Of course, it’s unlikely that you’ll see complete automation of their system soon, but they’ll be close within 10-15 years, I’d bet.
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Someone’s been a naughty person!
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I hope the package being delivered was itself a drone.
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Only an idiot would place an order and then try to capture the drone. A smart person would wait for their neighbor to order something 
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That’s a bit meta.
OTOH, this is what drone-capturing raptors and drones were invented for! How long do you think it will take before these things start getting hijacked?
The miscreant has only to jam the drone, getting it to collapse and so capturing drone and the package
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Yo dawg, I see you like drones, so I put a drone in your drone …
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But… but… what about the nice, pretty ladywho looks all fulfilled by her job in the fancy-looking fulfillment centre happily packing boxes? You’re saying it isn’t like that?
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Why?
Their warehouses are increasingly automated. If they can avoid all of the things that slow down delivery – traffic, roads, FedEx schedules, space on trucks – it just speeds up how fast they get people items.
Right now it’s unrealistic, sure. I don’t think it’ll be a gimmick for long.
I don’t think I can afford to move from my flat into a large estate with private grounds and no poachers. Oh well.
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Their original design from the first big video was a hybrid plane quadrocopter that would really quiet except when landing too. Wonder why they moved away from that to this giant quad version.
This seems both insanely wasteful and unreliable, but then I’m not a billionaire so what do I know
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I’m not ready to judge the technology yet, but I suspect that the insurance costs of theft by delivery personnel will not significantly outweigh the costs of property damage due to crashed drones.
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Delivery costs are very low now. On the other hand, Amazon will need to build loads of these mini fulfilment centres and keep them stocked and that will have a cost - a considerable one I suspect. Naturally they’ll charge for the priviledge of having something delivered in an hour but, realistically, how many people are going to pay extra for that on a regular basis after the novelty wears off? Most people aren’t that disorganised and can wait a day or two for something to be delivered.
It is also going to be absurdly annoying if it does get popular. I am fervently hoping that it doesn’t.
ETA: we desperately need to get urban diesel delivery van mileage down in Europe as it is causing big problems. But we can switch to electric vans and cargo bikes to do that. Drones really aren’t necessary.
