KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Amazon will soon deliver packages by drone in less than an hour to select Kansas City residents on both sides of the state line.
The service is expected to be available before the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
The drone delivery service will cover areas within a 7.5-mile radius of Amazon facilities in Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas.
“It is a big deal,” said Chris Preston, director of commercial operations for Amazon Prime Air.
His excitement is as big as the package-delivering drone.
"There's no better feeling, right?" Preston said. "I'm really excited for our customers in the Kansas City region to experience the same thing that I do."
“When it gets to the location, how does it land? Does it use a parachute?” Andrea Bell asked one of the Amazon Prime Air employees during the drone reveal event. “It comes back to you, and then you just reload it and send it back out?”
Bell is learning to fly drones, so she decided to check out Amazon’s drone
“This is much bigger than I was expecting,” she said.
The drone weighs 80 pounds and is 5 feet, 5 inches tall.
The drones will drop the packages from 10 to 12 feet, which is why some fragile items might not be available for that delivery option, Preston said.
Each facility will have 12 drones, and the batteries will be replaced for each flight.
The Kansas City, Missouri, facility is located at 4001 E 149th St, and the Kansas City, Kansas, facility is at 6925 Riverview Ave.
Items need to be under five pounds and fit inside a specific box. They will be dropped from a height of 10 to 12 feet.
“If we can safely deliver it, we will deliver it, and we'll provide that delivery point for the customer when they go to checkout,” Preston said.
Amazon Prime Air deliveries will cost $4.99, but if your order is more than $50, then delivery is free.
“No one will be losing their jobs,” Preston said.
Instead, they are adding more than 30 jobs at each facility.
“Once they experience it, they'll love it,” Preston said.
“It's just the convenience,” said Chelsea Barbercheck. She’s a customer and also the Executive Director of KC STEM Alliance, a not-for-profit aimed at inspiring interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.
She is excited not only about the customer experience but also about the impact that drone delivery might have on kids.
“That is a real way to inspire an interest in STEM and potentially encourage them to become engineers or work in tech one day, that can lead to opportunities like this,” Barbercheck said.
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KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.
