Imagine having the ability to have everyday items delivered to your home whenever you wanted? Walgreens is looking to make that a reality with a new drone delivery service. Think of all the reasons why you might stop at a pharmacy. Everything from prescriptions, other types of over-the-counter medicines, and other products we use daily. Even snacks or that gallon of milk can be delivered.
Walgreens announced last week that they are going to partner with Wing Aviation LLC. They are an up-and-coming drone delivery service that is trying to make drone deliveries commonplace. Right now, the technology is being used by Amazon and other companies to deliver packages, but hasn’t been widely distributed as of yet. It’s still a basic concept growing in popularity. It’s going to take companies like Walgreens to help make the technology mainstream.
It appears as if the program is in its infancy and will only be tested in one market in Christiansburg, Virginia. Wing Aviation LLC is a company owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google. Walgreens’ main goal is to pull ahead of the competition by offering convenient new services. This also means we can probably expect CVS and others to step up to the plate and also start testing their own drone delivery programs.
Drone Customer Service
“Walgreens continues to explore partnerships to transform and modernize our customer experience and we are proud to be the first retailer in the U.S. to offer an on-demand commercial drone delivery option with Wing,” said Vish Sankaran, chief innovation officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. in a statement.
Christiansburg was the place selected to carry out the tests because the program has a working partnership already with Virginia Tech University. They have been at the front lines of testing and perfecting this technology for several years. The new Walmart drone delivery service will be the next step in their process.
According to a press release from Walgreens: “Eligible customers in the Christiansburg area will have access to more than 100 products and six convenient ‘packs’ via the Wing app that include many of Walgreens most sought-after products in store. Customers can either choose the individual products they need or, for simplicity’s sake, choose one of the pre-built packs in the following categories: allergy, baby, cough/cold, first aid, pain, and kids’ snacks. Prescription deliveries are not available via this service.”
Walgreens is also the perfect fit for testing out this technology. A lot of people dare to venture out when they’re sick to get medicine and other needed supplies. With drone delivery, they can stay at home and rest while the medications and prescriptions they need are sent to them. It’s also perfect for senior citizens
