Look, Up in the Sky! It’s a Can of Soup!
news.yahoo.com
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Exactly a decade ago, Amazon revealed a program that aimed to revolutionize shopping and shipping. Drones launched from a central hub would waft through the skies delivering just about everything anyone could need. They would be fast, innovative, ubiquitous — all the Amazon hallmarks. The buzzy announcement, made by Jeff Bezos on “60 Minutes” as part of a Cyber Monday promotional package, drew global attention. “I know this looks like science fiction. It’s not,” said Bez

Only one item can be delivered at a time. It can’t weigh more than 5 pounds. It can’t be too big. It can’t be something breakable, since the drone drops it from 12 feet. The drones can’t fly when it is too hot or too windy or too rainy.

You need to be home to put out the landing target and to make sure that a porch pirate doesn’t make off with your item or that it doesn’t roll into the street (which happened once to Lord and Silverman). But your car can’t be in the driveway. Letting the drone land in the backyard would avoid some of these problems, but not if there are trees.

Amazon has also warned customers that drone delivery is unavailable during periods of high demand for drone delivery.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          13·
          1 year ago

          All the time? I’d like to see the statistics on deaths caused by delivery drivers.

          And I’m not sure why you think similar things wouldn’t happen with drones.

          • hamms@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            1 year ago

            According to The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:

            A total of 4,714 people died in large truck crashes in 2021, a 17 percent increase compared with 2020. Sixteen percent of these deaths were truck occupants, 68 percent were occupants of cars and other passenger vehicles, and 15 percent were pedestrians, bicyclists or motorcyclists.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
              12·
              1 year ago

              Even in the rare occurrence that it were to fall out of the sky there’s very little chance it would hit anyone.

              …unless it’s in a city.

              And even in the exceptionally rare occurrence that it were to hit someone, they’re incredibly light and unlikely to cause serious damage, much less kill anyone.

              …unless it’s a large drone carrying a heavy package.

              If we’re going to replace delivery drivers with drones, they have to be able to carry more than a single five-pound item.

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
                  12·
                  1 year ago

                  You know there are places in cities with tons of pedestrians, right? And sometimes things from high up fall on them and kill them, right?

                  Also, if they have weight limits, we won’t be replacing drivers with them. There will still be drivers. So I’m not sure how this saves lives.

          • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            1 year ago

            How did you determine this? Also why are you assuming a job is in itself a good thing instead of what the job does being a good thing?

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
              12·
              1 year ago

              Because the same farmer was plowing the same field.

              And a job is better than no job in the Western world if you want to eat and have a roof over your head.

              • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.worldEnglish
                2·
                1 year ago

                Omg seriously? Do you have any freaken idea how developing world farming works? This is freaken sad. Ok fine. In the real world it wasn’t a farmer it was a farming family. Children as young as 3 would work the land. Being able to use an animal to plow unleashed abundant food and freed up multiple members of the family.

                Yes having a job is better than not but that doesn’t mean you are entailed to a make work job because you refuse to use your brains.

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
                  12·
                  1 year ago

                  When Amazon fires all of the delivery people for to save money, what are all of those delivery people supposed to do to buy things so that they can survive? People seem to think ‘just get another job’ is a viable answer to thousands of people out of work.

                  • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    1·
                    1 year ago

                    I don’t think your hypothetical is very likely especially in anything resembling the short term. These drones can lift a can of soup, not exactly a couch.

                    However if drones gradually replace drivers the drivers will get new jobs. The reason why this is being suggested to you repeatedly is because it is the solution to the problem. The cure for automation isn’t to stick your head in the dirt and demand your degrading jobs back the cure is training.