COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Exactly a decade ago, Amazon revealed a program that aimed to revolutionize shopping and shipping. Drones launched from a central hub would waft through the skies delivering just about everything anyone could need. They would be fast, innovative, ubiquitous — all the Amazon ...
Only one item can be delivered at a time. It can’t weigh more than 5 pounds. It can’t be too big. It can’t be something breakable, since the drone drops it from 12 feet. The drones can’t fly when it is too hot or too windy or too rainy.
You need to be home to put out the landing target and to make sure that a porch pirate doesn’t make off with your item or that it doesn’t roll into the street (which happened once to Lord and Silverman). But your car can’t be in the driveway. Letting the drone land in the backyard would avoid some of these problems, but not if there are trees.
Amazon has also warned customers that drone delivery is unavailable during periods of high demand for drone delivery.
A total of 4,714 people died in large truck crashes in 2021, a 17 percent increase compared with 2020. Sixteen percent of these deaths were truck occupants, 68 percent were occupants of cars and other passenger vehicles, and 15 percent were pedestrians, bicyclists or motorcyclists.
You asked for a statistic on deaths caused by delivery drivers because you know it probably doesn’t exist. Your mind is clearly already made up, so why even bother posting?
That’s where you’re wrong. The “optimal” method of delivery matters to every stakeholder in the current system. Yes, Amazon would make more money. Probably too much more. Delivery would also likely be cheaper for customers. And delivery trucks in cities would finally stop blocking the fucking road whenever they feel like it.
Finally, have you considered the possibility that delivery trucks are suboptimal for delivery drivers? It’s no secret that the lifestyle of a delivery driver is extremely unhealthy, and I can’t imagine it’s particularly mentally stimulating.
This is the same rhetoric I hear about AI, and it’s very disheartening. The fact that corporations are gearing up these tools to further exploit the population isn’t an argument against the tools, it’s an argument against the corporations.