Bloomberg reports this morning that United Parcel Service (UPS) is about to start using drones to deliver prescriptions to The Villages, one of Florida's biggest retirement communities.
According to the story, "The time-sensitive deliveries from a CVS store about a half mile away are scheduled to begin early May. They will mark the first paid residential deliveries by UPS’s drone unit Flight Forward, which received approval last year to operate under relaxed rules for commercial lightweight unmanned aircraft."
The Villages is locked down because of the coronavirus, and so drone deliveries are seen as an effective way to get people their medicines while observing smart disciplines to avoid spreading the infection.
The story goes on to suggest that "deliveries by UPS and drone-technology partner Matternet to The Villages, which has some 135,000 residents about an hour north of Orlando, may be expanded to include more CVS Health Corp. stores. UPS in November made limited home-delivery drone flights from a CVS pharmacy in Cary, North Carolina."
- KC's View:
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It isn't just a way to deal with the demands of the pandemic. It is a way to normalize a form of delivery that just a few years ago was seen as out-there.
Once again, the pandemic throws us into fast-forward and accelerates technology development in meaningful ways.
