The drone hovered above the driveway for approximately one hour.
We mention this not as criticism. We mention it because it is, technically, what happened.
Then it released the package.
The package was a plastic bottle of blue raspberry syrup. The bottle traveled approximately ten feet, vertically, at the speed gravity provides for objects of that mass. It made contact with the concrete in the manner you would expect.
The influencer who recorded this — a woman named Hancock, who is, as far as we can tell, having a totally normal year — observed the result calmly: "It's definitely broken."
It was, in fact, definitely broken.
This is the part where most newsletters would cut to outrage. We are not going to do that. We are going to sit, instead, with Amazon's official statement.
The statement, attributed to an Amazon spokesperson and reproduced in multiple outlets, reads:
"We've invested in purpose-built packaging specifically engineered to protect items throughout the flight and during the final delivery to the customer."
We read this statement several times.
The packaging, in this case, was the bottle. The bottle was the only packaging. There was no overbox. There was no protective sleeve. There was no purpose-built nest of compressed foam. There was a plastic bottle, and there was a drone, and there was concrete, and there was gravity.
When Amazon described the bottle as "purpose-built packaging specifically engineered to protect items throughout the flight," they were technically correct, in the sense that the bottle did protect the syrup throughout the flight.
The flight ended.
The protection was no longer relevant.
Greg does not ship via Prime Air.
Greg has never expressed an opinion about Prime Air, in part because Greg does not have opinions about logistics platforms he is not using and in part because Greg, statistically, does not have opinions about most things.
Greg's products arrive at customer doorsteps in vehicles operated by humans, and Greg's products do not generally encounter concrete unless the customer takes them to a parking lot, which is unusual.
Greg is, on the whole, fine.
The drones are not failing. We want to be clear about this. The drones are operating exactly as designed. They are flying to the destination, releasing the package at the designated altitude, and returning to the depot. The DESIGN includes the part where the package is released at the designated altitude.
That altitude is ten feet.
We have read the technical literature. We have read the FAA filings. We have read three different Amazon spokespeople's statements over the past four weeks. We are not aware of any documentation indicating that ten feet is being treated as a problem.
It is being treated, instead, as the operating envelope.
Amazon will still be here Monday.
The drones will, too. With great purpose.
Any questions? Book a meeting with me here.
Have a great weekend.
Dan Head
Founder, AMZ Elite
