Personally, I’m not sure that I want a skyview of dozens of drones carrying packages–or any bigger indicator to thieves that my neighborhood is a good target. I do like the idea of more eco-friendly delivery practices, though.
I feel the same way.
Drones will glitch or break or hit other drones. They will crash, probably on my roof. For sure they will carrying my stuff when it happens. They will get confused and deliver to the wrong address, probably with my customers’ stuff, which will lead to INRs we can’t defend since the glitchy drones will insist they went to the right place. Thieves will develop drone hacking software or drone designed to steal packages from other drones. Cats and teenagers will attack them taking off and landing.
Fewer trucks, less traffic and pollution, wear on roads, etc… these are all good things. But I know that Amazon’s idea of implementing this wonderful new delivery method will involve sellers being forced migrated into a program that isn’t ready, enforced by bots that were programmed by developers who don’t understand how Amazon works, with policies that ensure sellers take all the risk if something goes wrong.
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A drone will use far more electricity and/or fuel than a ground vehicle on a per package basis.
If a cargo plane used less fuel than an equivalent capacity worth of semi trucks, cross country truck shipments wouldn’t exist.
Physics says keeping something in the air costs a lot of energy.
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but it will be 100% renewable solar produced electricity so don’t worry. 
I’m not looking forward to the increased sound pollution of hundreds of drones. It’ll be worse than a Wisconsin lake during the height of mosquito season for anyone in the primary flight path(s) near an FBA warehouse.
I believe drones are a fad that will be cool (and possibly efficient) for small, short distance deliveries and nothing else, and that large vehicles on wheels will continue to dominate until we invent teleporters and some way of gathering, storing, and transmitting massive amounts of “free” energy, such as solar power.
For those of us near airports, highways, or simply high traffic roads, the sound pollution already exists. This won’t make it any worse. It will just give us more to complain about, and you can’t go wrong with that.
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We predict that clay pigeon sales will collapse in Texas (and other outdoorsy hunting type states). Who will need them when all they have to do is open the door to catch a drone flying by?
Neighbor 1 - What ya all doing?
Neighbor 2 - Just sittin on the porch gettin in a little target practice. Wanta come join in the fun?
Customer issue: Package not delivered.
Comments: A drone tried to deliver a package to my address, but the box was all shredded and the item packaging was punctured all the way through. My B12 supplements had mostly leaked out of the gaping holes in a trail leading back to @Lost_My_Marbles’s house. Obviously I refused the package, and I demand a replacement.
See, the problem with that is the places where small short distance deliveries make sense are densely packed urban areas, where it makes more sense for a van to bring the whole building’s deliveries at once. And the risk of an accident causing harm to a pedestrian is high in those areas as well.
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If the drones use the front door, sure.
If/when drone delivery becomes mainstream, I expect tthe world will adapt. Old houses in many areas still have the delivery hatches from where people used to get daily milk deliveries. It was impractical for everyone who wanted milk to be up before dawn to answer the door, so a delivery hatch was installed.
I imagine something similar for drones. Apartment buildings, condos, houses will have a drone port or hatch or something on the roof. When an order is placed, an electronic delivery key will be given along with a delivery address which will allow the drone to access the port. Or something, imagining the future isn’t really my forte.
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Drones can fall out of the sky in transit to a building’s roof
I am aware. 
Delivery vans can and do crash inflict property damage and injure and kill people. I don’t anticipate drones trying to land on rooftops being less safe.
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Intrinsically, that may be true - but the end goal here is to deploy completely autonomous drones.
Given the current state of AI (especially in Amazon’s hands), I’m just a tad bit trepid about that…
Me too. I was just commenting on the danger of drones falling out of the sky and hurting people, which I consider to be low, especially compared with the very real danger of road vehicles.
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Wonder if drones will migrate like birds with the seasons?
Can’t imagine drones in Montana or Wyoming during the winter or even in Texas or Oklahoma during the spring thunderstorms / tornadoes.
This was from almost 10 years ago. Nothing to be concerned about, move along now…/S
…and coal chutes.
But to me, final delivery security is the least of worries. All I can imagine is The Fifth Element but drones.
I was thinking of the Jetsons…
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Or BTTF 2
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If I had one of those delivery ports and a drone flew into it (I REALLY want to see them unlatch the door) to deliver something the drone would NOT get out in one piece.
Mosquitoes and June Bugs are one thing but a motorized home invader is an invasion of privacy at best and unlawful entry at worst. I’m guessing a shotgun would be the best choice.
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