People are predicting the death of the High Street.
To be fair people have been predicting that since the turn of the millennium and we still have one even though it’s mainly coffee shops and betting shops.
The latest death knell has been inspired by new plans to upgrade Amazon’s delivery system.
People have been saying the big tech firm will be testing its “futuristic new device”.
It’s a drone. It’s not that futuristic.
It’s what divorced dads have been playing with on weekends for years now.
They also use drones in war but I’m hoping it’s not those models they’re testing.
It is quite novel to have a drove deliver your shopping.
The Amazon drone rollout is part of a test across various industries, including off shore wind and the police, to see if drone flying out of the line of sight of the operator can become part of day to day life.
Some would say that having the police film you from the skies would be the big news but this seems to be the wrong week to push back against giving the police stronger powers, so we’ll just let that one slide.
The innovation will be in using drones where the operators can’t see the drone at all times.
So, this will either be the way that items are delivered to your door, if this goes well.
Or the way 17 people will be decapitated in the news tomorrow. Only time will tell.
Amazon is hoping to launch its Prime Air service in the UK by the end of this year.
There are still some questions. How will a drone be able to knock on your door or leave the parcel in a safe place?
Let’s be honest, it won’t. It will be able to carelessly drop it over your garden gate.
So it might replace the need for Evri drivers.
Amazon has already identified what it has described as a “lightly-populated suburban area” for its trial run.
That area has not yet been made public but if you live in a lightly-populated suburban area, maybe wear a hat or crouch.
Regardless of how you feel about this there is no point resisting.
This is like the moment letters were replaced by email or the self-scan till come out.
You can moan but you’ll be using it in a few years time.
There will be no other option.
Other shops will have adopted the technology and everything will be flung at us from a drone.
There is also no point making an enemy of Amazon.
They know where you live and they have drones now.
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