Why Drones Could Save Door-To-Door Mail Delivery (vice.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Online shopping aside, people don't have as many physical items to mail as they used to, which is largely the reason why Canada Post announced it would be phasing out door-to-door mail delivery. Motherboard reports: "The corporation is exploring future use of drone technology to make deliveries, according to a report from the Canadian Press. At this point, Canada Post is engaging in a 'proper exercise,' a spokesperson told the Canadian Press, adding that the project is in its earliest, experimental stages. According to Graham Scott, the deputy editor of Canadian Business, even if mail-delivering drones remain a theoretical concept for now, it's inevitable they'll be considered as a way to drive costs down. There are many good reasons why mail delivery drones may never get off the ground. For one thing, current technology limits them to delivering one item of post at a time, which is tremendously impractical. But, as we've seen with the rolling out of community mailboxes -- a program that was put on hold earlier this year when the review was launched -- the invisible hand of the market is always looking to drive costs down. So don't count out flying robot deliveries for good. From a manager's perspective at least, drones have their advantages. They don't suffer from dog bites, and they (ideally) don't deviate from their routes. 'Drones don't twist their ankle, they don't get tired, and they don't form a union.' said Scott." In 2013, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos revealed during a CBS 60 Minutes interview that the company is working on a service called "Prime Air" to deliver packages by autonomous octocopter drones within 30 minutes of hitting the "buy" button. The Guardian reported last year that Amazon has been testing its drone delivery service at a secret site in Canada, following repeated warnings by the e-commerce giant that it would go outside the U.S. to bypass what it sees as the U.S. federal government's lethargic approach to the new technology.

Comments

Re:Except for FAA regulations

[PopeRatzo]

The article is about Canada, where FAA regulations don't apply. America has dumb regulations on drones. Most other countries are far more sensible.

Maybe Canada has fewer goofballs with drones who think their hobby takes precedence over people's lives and property.

http://www.deseretnews.com/art...

Delivering Garbage

[Plus1Entropy]

Stop putting junk mail (literal trash, it goes right in the bin) into my mailbox! Seriously, it's >95% of the mail I receive. I get maybe 2 actual pieces of mail that I want/need every month.

Here's a better, low-tech solution. Only deliver the real mail, say once every week. You do rolling delivery across different regions of a city/county/whatever (i.e. the day you get mail delivered is different depending on where you are). That's it, you've just cut costs significantly, with little-to-no loss of quality of service. Actually, the service is better, because I don't have to clean trash out of my mailbox all the time.

Drones are awesome!

[the_Bionic_lemming]

So when you have very windy days, what happens?

Also, for delivery in crime areas, how does the drone open your screen door and put the package in between your front door when you aren't home?

What about winter weather, when it's blustery, snowing hard - are they just going to sod off a delivery when there's only clear weather?

And during thunderstorms, are the packages going to be water proof? How much is the added cost to make it not only delivered whenever the weather allows it, but also to ensure that the package itself can withstand the elements) no more cardboard).

Need it overnight? Well, that's going to increase in cost cause when they fire folks so drones can do the job, the last guy left is going to be real expensive to go the last mile.

Do people just not understand physics?

[nbritton]

Do people just not understand physics? Do they honestly really think drones could take over package delivery?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

In America it costs 50 cents.

[Iamthecheese]

Go ahead. Call FedEx and say you want them to swing by your house every day just in case you have outgoing mail. Tell them volume will be very low. Tell them you won't sign a contract. And tell them you're willing to pay fifty cents per one ounce parcel to be sent anywhere in America. The US parcel service isn't afraid of change, they've embraced every bit of cost saving technology possible. But there are millions of Americans that the internet still doesn't reach. People too (literally) retarded, too poor or just unwilling to buy PC's and people too poor or too disabled to walk to the nearest parcel delivery store. (hundreds of miles for a few, by the way)

Okay I wrote all that before I clicked the link: it's a bad link. Canada is actually using community boxes which require a short walk. Less ideal but it still preserves the principle of the thing. My point is the USPS is the last remaining government service that's keeping millions of Americans from being completely priced out of being able to effectively communicate with the world. It's also offering a service no one else can. Government mail delivery won't be obsolete until another company can actually match its costs (and not by cutting services)

Re: What about the hidden costs?

[Anonymous Coward]

The anti worker and anti human sentiment around here is unbelievable. The 'invisible hand' of the market is nothing more than the media pushed wishes of a bunch of sociopaths. We're taking what was a thriving society that dared to do great things and destroying it. Not improving it--destroying it. Improving would imply that what comes next is better. We used to do that too. Now all we know how to do is drive down incomes and standards of living.

Ever ask yourselves why it is we allegedly can't afford things that earlier versions of our society with less wealth and less knowledge were able to? The answer is because back then we had less wealth concentration, we kept the rich on a leash and didn't let them do whatever they wanted and yes, that meant regulations, it meant unions, and it meant jobs with actual benefits. It's why you will never have even a fraction of what your parents and grandparents had because you willingly give it all away to the people who already have too much.

Why a flying drone?

[AchilleTalon]

I find it utterly stupid to look at flying drones for such a task rather than looking at walking drones. Keeping in the air mail is much more energy hungry than walking, it is subject to winds and bad weather and so on. While a walking drone has its limitations too, it is much less limitative than a flying drone for the same task. It seems the Jettson's syndrome is stricking back again.