Walmart Drone Service Is Expanding, But WYO Still Not Included

When it comes to big businesses, it feels like Wyoming is the “black sheep” of the country, often being left out of new innovations.

Thus is the case when Walmart announced their partnership with delivery drone company, DroneUp, last year (May 24th, 2022).

While it came as no surprise that the Cowboy State wasn’t listed on the first wave of states to get to experiment with the technology, in late December (2022), when Walmart announced they were expanding on the drone delivery service, we were still left out of the mix.

According to a report from CowboyStateDaily:

When asked if Wyoming stores would ever receive the service, the nation’s largest retailer didn’t respond.

That definitely is not a good sign.

While it does make some rational sense while Walmart isn’t quite ready to experiment here, it does sting a little that they wouldn’t even give an estimation of when, where or even if it’s in there future plans.

Off the top of my head, I could see how our weather would make drone delivery difficult. To be more precise, I can think of several weather related issues. For instance:

Wind Speeds
Freezing Temperatures
Snow
or any combination of the above

The CowboyStateDaily article did also mention that Walmart wants to expand its drone infrastructure to deliver one million packages per year, so there may still be some hope in the not too distant future.

There are some nifty features about the service. Walmart.com stated:

Between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., customers will be able to order from tens of thousands of eligible items, such as Tylenol, diapers and hot dog buns, for delivery by air in as little as 30 minutes. For a delivery fee of $3.99, customers can order items totaling up to 10 pounds, so simply put, if it fits safely it flies.

That’s not a bad price point for the convenience of an airborne delivery system.