I recently wrote about Corner Grocers and some other grocery shopping trends for CBC Radio One’s Alberta at Noon. I talked about the money Amazon is spending on research to make home delivery – by small aircraft drones – of groceries (and many other items under five pounds – which is 86% of their business) a reality. Some of you might have thought that was a little far-fetched but it turns out that strides they are making towards turning this into a reality are happening very close to home.
As this article from The Guardian describes, Amazon is testing its delivery drones in our own backyard in beautiful British Columbia. Alberta has set aside 700 nautical square miles for testing drones beyond visual capacity. According to The Guardian, Amazon believes that ultimately drones will be faster, safer and more environmentally and economically friendly.
I usually tune out when someone “drones on” but this trend has me riveted. I’ll always want to visit farmers’ markets for my fresh groceries for the love of the community that comes with that type of shopping but I’d be quite happy for my toilet paper to fly the friendly Canadian skies and be delivered to my front door. My bottom and my bottom line will both be happier with less time in the car and the big box stores.