Is this going to replace UPS and FEDEX - Drone makes first legal doorstep delivery in milestone flight

A little bit of humor for you PO2 Mark Saffell

Im afraid in some cities people will use these as target pratice.

COL Mikel J. Burroughs It will over time as we can improve battery technology which is the most persistent limitation.

I don't think the truck based delivery model will change anytime soon. The volume is far to high for drones to take over and many packages would be impossible to deliver due to size and weight. Is a niche capability at best with the current technology. Sorry, the ex military drone pilots won't be stepping into positions at FedEx or UPS anytime soon.

There are a lot of issues with range, payload safety and security to work out. Small drones cannot carry enough and go far enough to be practical yet. There could also be privacy issues with cameras on the drones.

UPS, FedEx and the USPS (and other small parcel, last mile companies) deliver millions of packages a day. Can you imagine the number of drones in the air to even make a dent in this? They would become a nuisance hitting houses, power lines, personal property, falling out of the sky etc.

While this may take awhile to catch on for these types of deliveries, I'm excited to see where else this concept branches off. For rural areas that see heavy snowfalls, perhaps we can expect important supplies delivered to residents when roadways are impassable. Similarly, in situations like hurricanes and other natural disasters, water and food can be sent in to those stranded on rooftops until the proper rescue attempts can be made. While I don't think that we really need our Amazon purchases within an hour, it will be great to see humanitarian and emergency applications that come from this.

Perhaps in Rural areas...hard to get to areas...or places far away at first....but inner city and suburban areas....nope...don't think so. Not yet. Perhaps sometime in the future....100 years from now when most of the population is more technologically developed and inept.

Perhaps they will over time. Over time they will saturate the economy with them and they will become less expensive and more accessible. I'm wondering what the FAA regulations are regarding the frequencies which they can fly in and what training handlers are or will be required to have. We're moving to a more technical age. It would be a good idea to direct personnel to moving in the direction of becoming more technically capable in this area head of the saturation time. ... Just some random thoughts on the matter.

Well COL Mikel J. Burroughs, it could be useful for delivering light-weight items that can withstand high and low temperature like depends and diapers, paper products such as books, magazines, toilet paper, napkins, paper towels, and tissues etc. :-) It could be useful with proper packaging for shipping software, DVDs, and music CDs.
Shipping non-controlled medicines could be very risky and extremely expensive because of temperature constraints. Expect the cartels and other organized crime to mimic the Drone markings so that they can ship controlled substances and other items in demand on the black market :-)
Drones would not be reliable for shipments of "fresh" food such as Harry & David, wine deliveries, frozen food, etc.
However with proper markings of friendly intent [confederate flag, Gadsden flag :-)] the freeze dried and canned varieties long-sought-after by survivalists and people stocking up for the "invasion" - those folks would be more likely to shoot at the delivery vehicle though :-)

COL Mikel J. Burroughs In Missouri, they will get shot down, outside of city limits...