While that won't be the case in Quebec tomorrow, Walmart hasn't ruled out soon offering 10-minute drone delivery on items from baby wipes to birthday candles, as it does in Dallas, Texas.
“We are always looking for innovative ways to improve the customer experience at Walmart Canada,” its spokesman Steeve Azoulay said in response to a question from Le Journal on Wednesday.
“While we have no immediate plans to introduce drone delivery, we are learning from other Walmart markets around the world,” he said, without providing further details at this time.
Last month, Walmart abandoned its $100 million fulfillment center project in Vaudreuil-Dorion to modernize eight of its stores here. The news caused a stir in Montérégie.
Delivery in 10-30 minutes
However, last Tuesday, Walmart United States announced in a press release that drone delivery will be available to 1.8 million households in Dallas-Fort Worth. According to the Wall Street Journal, Walmart is already using drones in six states, but this will be the first time it's done so on a larger scale.
“Drone delivery offers customers an even faster delivery option, as items are delivered in 30 minutes or less, and some deliveries can be made in as little as 10 minutes,” the American giant said in its statement.
Walmart says it has already made 20,000 deliveries “safely” in just two years, encouraging the company to continue its momentum.
Powered by Walmart
“We’re excited that Dallas-Fort Worth residents can enjoy seven times faster, zero-emission, quiet delivery with our next-generation technology,” Walmart said.
Wing, which belongs to Google parent company Alphabet, and Zipline are working to offer this pioneering service.
“Drone deliveries are already taking place in Canada”
When Amazon announced drone drug delivery in Texas last October, Le Journal asked Transport Canada to obtain the list of companies that had applied to offer drone delivery service in Quebec.
Without naming companies, the department responded with a reference to the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) licensing website.
Transport Canada had also confirmed that “drone deliveries are already taking place in Canada”.
“If a pilot wants to use a drone to transport goods for profit, he or she must obtain a commercial operating license from the OTC,” explained his spokeswoman Katherine Proulx.
In federal jargon, drones are called “Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS)”.
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