Walmart Expands Drone Delivery Service to 100 More Locations

If you need another sign that we’re in the technology age, drones may soon start delivering groceries right to your home.

Walmart, the largest retailer in the United States with 4,800 stores nationwide, has announced that it’s expanding its ultra-fast drone delivery service. Since 2021, the retailer has successfully carried out more than 150,000 drone deliveries. Now, Walmart is partnering with drone delivery company Wing to bring its own airborne delivery service to five new major cities: Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando, and Tampa. 

In a Walmart corporate announcement published on June 5, senior vice president of Walmart U.S. transformation and innovation Greg Cathey explains that, “As we look ahead, drone delivery will remain a key part of our commitment to redefining retail. We’re pushing the boundaries of convenience to better serve our customers, making shopping faster and easier than ever before.”   

If you live in Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando, or Tampa, and want to be notified when drone delivery becomes available in your area, you can sign up for notifications on the Wing website. Cathey emphasizes that “As the first retailer to scale drone delivery, Walmart is once again demonstrating its commitment to leveraging technology to enhance our delivery offerings with a focus on speed.”

The drone delivery service is currently available in Dallas-Fort Worth and Northwest Arkansas, but with the expansion, it will launch at 100 additional stores. According to the press release, existing versions of the service have already proven successful, with Wing CEO Adam Woodworth saying, “People all around the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex have made drone delivery part of their normal shopping habits over the past year.”

What can you get delivered with drones from Walmart? 

With the drone delivery program, Walmart customers can order last-minute essentials, such as ice cream, eggs, pet food, medicine, or the vegetables they forgot to pick up for dinner, delivered to their homes in as little as 30 minutes. 

While thousands of Walmart products are available for drone delivery, the company states on its website that not all products can be delivered via drone due to size and weight restrictions.

According to the retailer, drone delivery is currently free for Walmart members, and there is no minimum order requirement. However, non-members must pay $19.99 for the drone service.

How does Walmart's drone delivery service work?

Once Walmart’s drone delivery becomes available in your city, the steps for using the service are straightforward: Log in to your Walmart account online or through the store's app and add the items you want to purchase to your cart. At checkout, select “delivery from store,” and if drone delivery is available for your location, you should be able to select it as an option.

The app will tell you if your items are ineligible for drone delivery or if you’ve exceeded a weight or size limit. Customers can also shop for Walmart drone delivery through the Wing website.

According to Wing, customers can confirm their exact delivery locations (such as their backyards) during checkout, and the groceries will then be packed into special boxes. 

Then, a Wing drone will take off with the items you purchased from the local Walmart store where you shopped, cruising “up to 65 mph to your home.” Delivery times may vary, and customers can choose from options like “express delivery (as soon as 30 minutes), late-night delivery, and in-home delivery (right to the refrigerator).”

The two brands confirm that the drone service will be in operation at the additional Walmart Supercenters by this time next year, making it the first retailer to offer drone deliveries across five states.