Wednesday 27 July 2016

Amazon Drone Delivery A Bad Idea

Now I'm no Luddite, but I heard about this new drone delivery system from Amazon that is stepping up it's testing after being given approval from the UK Government. 
Under the new rules they no longer need line of sight contact with their drones 

Sometimes my minds boggles at why anyone can think an idea is a good one, this is one of those times.

First of all who would this benefit if it worked? Only impatient consumers who can't wait for a next day delivery and the shareholders at Amazon.

There is also a small few in very isolated areas that could benefit from these deliveries as well (I imagine in the outback in Australia or similar if they had the range).

And for the negative - it would take away jobs, delivery drivers would be massively impacted by this.

 There would be increased noise and it would make our air space much more dangerous. Not only that but it would be only a matter of time before one of these fell out of the sky and killed someone. 

I would imagine that it would have an affect on wildlife as well if there was hundreds of these things bussing around the skies.

Then there's the privacy issue as everything it sees in the air through it's cameras would be recorded and I have no doubt that data would be sold to the highest bidder.

And the theft issue, if someone with an unscrupulous background saw one of these flying above them, it would be easy to chase it, watch where it lands and steal the package, there is even talk of them being hacked in the sky and flown away. 

What is your opinion on these?
I'm not saying I encourage it but it they were knocked out of the sky I don't think I would see it as a bad thing! 

23 comments:

  1. I get books delivered to the Republic of Ireland from the Book Depository within 7 - 10 days. That's quick enough for me.

    I think you would need to live within ten miles of an Amazon distribution centre. So most rural dwellers would not be able to avail of their service.

    There are 33 million plus vehicles on the UK roads polluting the environment and creating lots of animal road kill. So perhaps the drones might be of some benefit?

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    1. I should imagine that the drones would pollute as well and there might eb abit of "sky kill as well!

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  2. I think drones would be good at delivering medical supplies providing it was an assured secure service or perhaps spare parts for equipment everything else I can live with a next day delivery although I get a 48 hour delivery most of the time too rural for next day depending what time I put an order in.

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    1. I think we've become very impatient, I normally go for longer delivery if it's cheaper but then I'm tight!

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  3. Hey Kev, its all very iRobot isnt it.

    Changing the subject and going on to the programme Eden, it is kind of like the TV series the Castaways from 2000. You know the programme with Ben Fogle as a young chap with his dog Inca. they were on an island in Scotland also.

    Anyways, there are some lazy toe-rags on that programme I wish it was like Big Brother and you could vote them off. Tom needs to go, he does nothing for morale and is a tell tale tit. Nothing annoys me more. He is a coward and bullies by stiring everyone up. Get Tom off! A man would say, "Hey Anton, what are you taking? Did they say you could have that in the meeting?" But no, he goes like a girl and gossips. And Tara, OMG she needs to be sent home. Why would you put someone who has back problems to build a new village from scratch. Idiotic, and just for TV, else you would have all able bodied people. So that annoys me. What are your thoughts on it now there have been 2 episodes?

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    1. I'll do a post on Eden tomorrow I think. I find it strangely addictive to watch.
      As for irobot it scares me a little.

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  4. The thought of drones buzzing overhead is off putting. There is a big distribution centre in Swansea that would be using drones. There are always pros and cons to every new idea and perhaps the trial sessions will deal with the cons. Anything that is safe and will reduce traffic should be good, not sure how the Red Kites would react, they certainly gang up on the odd Buzzard that dares to invade their territory.

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    1. Good point Pam I didnt think about the birds.

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    2. I also thought that the noise would be disturbing to birds as well.

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  5. All excellent points. I wondered about the security of package delivery myself---what's to prevent someone from stealing the packages??
    People are so impatient anymore. I know my son LIVES in a city with a distribution center and he was actually complaining that one of his deliveries took a FULL DAY.
    ONE DAY?????? He's used to same day. My gosh. I wait 5-8 days and marvel..........

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    1. Like I said, I pick slower delivery to save money! I can wait!

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  6. I really can't see how this would work?

    Where will these things land?

    A busy street? On the drive?

    Will they just deposit the package and disappear?

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    1. I think so, I think you pick a landing place for it and thats it.

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  7. I give up. My issue was the loss of privacy but that's already gone. We used to call people driving by taking pictures of strangers houses stalkers but now everyone's ok with google earth looking into everyone's backyards. I live in a very rural area and can guess "drone" would be synonymous with "target practice"

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    1. That was my first thought: skeet shooting.

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    2. I have also had that thought but I thought I'd better not write it down!

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  8. Raptors don't like drones. It doesn't bode well for either.

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    1. I hope the raptors take them out! Although some drones look huge

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  9. I was listening to a radio debate on these drones and most of the points raised were totally against the idea, as am I. There is so much potential for harm, nuisance and theft apart from the fact that, as someone pointed out, how easy would it be to hack into the system gain control of the drone and attach a homemade explosive device to it.

    The mind boggles at the stupidity of the whole idea, and our government for giving permission for trials to go ahead, other countries approached have all said a very firm no.

    As you say it would also put van drivers out of work. I was watching a programme with Greg Wallace about the production of cornflakes, and they showed the warehouse with about twenty automatic forklift type robots going from a to b stacking and restacking pallets of cereals ready for distribution, I suddenly realised that every one of those SHOULD have been a man driving a forklift truck ... we are being taken over by robots enough as it is without allowing delivery drones to take over our skies.

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    1. This is how I feel. The loss of these jobs is passed off to us as having a cheaper product for the consumer but think how much better off we'd be if there was more jobs and more money floating around. Money into these big companies does not filter down.

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  10. It's progress, no point worrying about it really. I can't see it being economically viable and the stuff would just be stolen.

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    1. I don;t see it as progress, I see it as a threat.

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  11. I am totally against the whole idea. There's so much wrong with it I can't begin to list it all. I don't think I have anything to "hide" but it's just another step to sacrificing personal privacy. We have the modern technology to create so many things, but I fear we lack the common sense to use the technology in a sane and sensible way. Terrible, terrible idea!

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