Walmart drone deliveries are now available for residents in North Texas.
The new service launched on December 15 alongside other participating stores located in the states of Arizona and Florida.
“Drones can deliver more than 10,000 eligible Walmart items up to 10 pounds, including fragile items like eggs, in as little as 30 minutes,” a company news release said. “There are no order minimums, and the delivery fee is just $3.99.”
Once a customer places an order, the item is fulfilled from the store, packaged, loaded into the drone, and delivered to a resident’s yard. The package is then lowered into the customer’s yard with a cable.
To receive an order by drone, residents must live within one mile of a participating location. Drones are stationed in 11 stores located in Dallas. These include stores at The Colony, Garland, Murphy, Rowlett, Richardson, Mesquite, and Plano, according to The Dallas Morning News.
The company announced in May that it would be partnering with DroneUp to provide this service to customers.
This drone delivery company is owned by Alphabet, Google’s parent company.
Participating stores will house a DroneUp delivery hub with a team of pilots operating under Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidelines. All commercial drone operations must operate under the FAA’s part 135 guidelines.
The FAA issued the first ever Part 135 Single pilot air carrier certificate for drone operations to Wing Aviation, owned by Alphabet, in April 2019.
Amazon was the first company to operate a drone larger than 55 pounds under the part 135 standard air carrier certificate and began commercial operations of ‘Prime Air’ in August 2020. A new model revealed late last month claims to have a longer range and better temperature tolerance. They have already begun drone-delivering Amazon products in Oregon and Northern California and are planning to expand further.
Walgreens previously announced its partnership with Wing to use drone deliveries to Frisco and Little Elm in April. These deliveries were first brought to the mayors of both cities, marking the first delivery to a major metropolitan area.
The FAA is working on additional applications for part 135 certifications, suggesting that the era of drone deliveries is just starting.