For those who dream of gifts dropping from the sky, Amazon has you covered.
Drone delivery is coming back to San Joaquin County — or at least a small portion of it.
After a two-year hiatus, Amazon plans to resume offering some deliveries — those under 5 pounds — via Prime Air to customers in a 7.5-mile radius around Tracy. No firm start date has been set for the automated deliveries, but liftoff is expected in the next month.
“It’s very important to us,” said Erik Robertson, primary regional operations manager for Prime Air. “We’ve been working on this for 13 years.”
Previously, Prime Air operated out of the small community of Lockeford, east of Lodi. The location was the first to test Amazon’s drone deliveries in 2022.
This time, Tracy was chosen as the hub, the first of the new sites in California, because it’s where Amazon has a robotics operation.
Besides offering the thrill of seeing your Nicolas Cage pillow covers, happy hippo slippers, light-up chopsticks or other items descend from the heavens, Amazon’s goal is to get your orders to you faster than via conventional ground delivery. One of the selling points of the drone service is delivery in as little as 30 minutes, Robertson said.
Front or backyard? Your choice.
“As long as you have the space,” the drone can make the delivery, Robertson told Stocktonia. “We have data that assesses each yard.”
A backyard landing would obviously eliminate the need to protect against porch pirates. The front yard would allow you to show off to your neighbors.
Airborne delivery will be free for Amazon Prime members on orders over $50. Otherwise, the cost is $2.99 for Prime members and $4.99 for non-members.
“You don’t have to sign up for this. It will pop up naturally” when a customer orders on a computer, he said. Those who are eligible will see the drone option on orders whenever they buy items on Amazon.
Amazon has gradually been introducing drone delivery around the country. It currently serves 11 communities, mostly in Texas. But the e-commerce giant is planning a rapid expansion, with a goal of serving nearly 500 cities via drone by the end of the year.
Robertson said drone delivery has proved so popular the aircraft often are operating at full capacity. In Phoenix, the service set an internal record of 600 flights in one day.
The company figures the use of drones for delivery has nowhere to go but up.
“We’re scaling and growing,” Robertson said.