Walmart is continuing to expand its delivery options, officially rolling out drone delivery in select markets in Arizona, Florida and Texas on Thursday.
According to the big-box chain, customers in the Phoenix, Tampa, Orlando, and Dallas areas can now take advantage of same-day delivery via drone. The new delivery option will be fulfilled from four stores in Arizona, seven stores in Florida and 11 stores in Texas.
This marks the first time customers in these markets can take advantage of Walmart’s drone delivery, following the retailer’s May announcement of plans to expand its DroneUp network to reach four million additional households across six states, including Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Texas, Utah and Virginia by the end of the year. In total, there will be 34 stores making drone delivery available in 23 cities nationwide by year end, Walmart said.
This comes after Walmart first partnered with DroneUp in 2020 to test launch deliveries of at-home COVID-19 self-collection kits. The partnership expanded further in June 2021 when Walmart announced it had invested in the delivery company. By Nov. 2021, Walmart and DroneUp made their first multi-site commercial drone delivery operations from drone airport “hubs.” Walmart now touts that it has “successfully executed” thousands of same-day drone deliveries to date.
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Vik Gopalakrishnan, VP of innovation and automation at Walmart U.S., said in a statement that being on the forefront of this delivery innovation is something Walmart is proud of. “Drone delivery makes it possible for our customers to shop those last-minute or forgotten items with ease, in a package that’s frankly really cool,” Gopalakrishnan. “It may seem like a futuristic option, but it’s giving our customers what they’ve always wanted, and that’s time back to focus on what is most important to them.”
Here’s how it works. Customers living within a mile of a participating store can place orders through droneupdelivery.com between the hours of 8 am and 8 pm local time. Drones can deliver more than 10,000 eligible Walmart items up to 10 pounds, including fragile items like eggs, in as little as 30 minutes.
Participating stores will house a DroneUp delivery hub inclusive of a team of certified pilots, operating within FAA guidelines, that safely manage flight operations for deliveries. Once a customer places an order, the item is fulfilled from the store, packaged, loaded into the drone and delivered right to their yard using a cable that gently lowers the package.
According to Walmart, there are no order minimums and the delivery fee is just $3.99.
See here a list of Walmart stores now participating in drone delivery.
Arizona
- Walmart Supercenter #3896
21655 N Lake Pleasant Pkwy, Peoria, AZ 85382 - Walmart Supercenter #1533
7975 W Peoria Ave, Peoria, AZ 85345 - Walmart Supercenter #3241
18551 N 83rd Ave, Glendale, AZ 85308 - Walmart Supercenter #1532
5845 W Bell Rd, Glendale, AZ 85308
Florida
- Walmart Supercenter #2695
1450 Johns Lake Rd, Clermont, FL 34711 - Walmart Supercenter #5299
550 Us Highway 27, Clermont, FL 34714 - Walmart Supercenter #994
8745 State Road 54, New Port Richey, FL 34655 - Walmart Supercenter #941
2140 Bloomingdale Avenue, Valrico, FL 33596 - Walmart Supercenter #3347
7450 Cypress Gardens Blvd, Winter Haven, FL 33884 - Walmart Supercenter #2740
19910 Bruce B Downs Blvd, Tampa, FL 33647 - Walmart Supercenter #3463
1208 E Brandon Blvd, Brandon, FL 33511
Texas
- Neighborhood Market #2975
3959 Broadway Blvd, Garland, TX 75043 - Walmart Supercenter #3224
555 W Interstate 30, Garland, TX 75043 - Walmart Supercenter #1800
1801 Marketplace Dr, Garland, TX 75041 - Walmart Supercenter #2973
115 West Fm 544, Murphy, TX 75094 - Neighborhood Market #5657
3100 Custer Rd, Plano, TX 75075 - Neighborhood Market #2974
1501 Buckingham Rd, Richardson, TX 75081 - Neighborhood Market #2976
915 N Town East Blvd, Mesquite, TX 75150 - Neighborhood Market #3015
2827 S Buckner Blvd, Dallas, TX 75227 - Neighborhood Market #5021
2275 Gus Thomasson Rd, Dallas, TX 75228 - Walmart Supercenter #3225
2501 Lakeview Pkwy, Rowlett, TX 75088 - Walmart Supercenter #426
4691 State Highway 121, The Colony, TX 75056
