Amazon's drone delivery service is coming to Cleveland
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Amazon's MK30 delivery drone. Photo: Sam Allard/Axios
Amazon's custom delivery drones will soon be flying across Cleveland and its eastern suburbs, adding a new way for Prime customers to get their packages.
Why it matters: Cleveland is among a growing number of metros where Amazon is rolling out drone delivery service alongside its existing warehouses and blue trucks.
- The goal is for packages to arrive 30 minutes after an online purchase, though the fastest on-record delivery is 11 minutes.
State of play: The drone program will operate out of Amazon's CLE2 fulfillment center in North Randall, on the site of the former Randall Park Mall, says Erik Robertson, Prime Air's regional operations manager.
- Construction, hiring and training are already underway, he tells Axios, with drone deliveries expected to launch within a couple of months.
- Based on previous rollouts, he estimates drones in Cleveland might make 200-300 deliveries per day, but that could grow substantially with customer awareness and interest.
How it works: Prime Air drones are FAA-approved, fly autonomously with human operators monitoring flights, use onboard systems to detect and avoid other aircraft, and operate at noise levels comparable to a delivery van.
- For now, drone deliveries are limited to daylight hours. And only packages weighing up to 5 pounds within a 7.5-mile radius of the North Randall facility are eligible.
- That zone includes most of the southeast side of the city of Cleveland, and a huge swath of the Eastern suburbs, from Cleveland Heights to Chagrin Falls to Solon.
Prime members will be able to select a drone delivery option for $4.99 during their order and identify the drop-off location on their property.
- For non-Prime members, the fee is $9.99.
What they're saying: Robertson says that efficiency is a big part of the appeal for customers.
- "But novelty is also part of the experience," he says. "We've had people order on football Sundays, sort of to show off to their neighbors."
By the numbers: Amazon is one of Ohio's largest employers, with an estimated 45,000 employees — thousands of whom work at fulfillment centers in North Randall, Euclid, Akron and Canton.
What's next: Amazon Prime Air is actively hiring for a number of roles, including safety and compliance officers, maintenance technicians and flight monitors.