Amazon’s Drone Delivery Dream Is Crashing
And now that Prime Air has fewer bodies, those targets could be even more difficult to hit. Amazon has announced layoffs of more than 27,000 employees so far this year, and former employees say that a round of cuts on January 18 affected around 140 of Prime Air’s 850 employees. Amazon spokesperson Av Zammit declined to confirm the number of Prime Air layoffs, referring, instead, to a message from CEO Andy Jassy about the company’s overall headcount reduction.
In Lockeford and College Station, where teams of roughly 30 people were employed prior to layoffs, more than half the roles were slashed, according to a report from The Verge.
Many of the terminated roles related to upper and mid-level safety roles, former employees say, including that of Level 7 safety and security manager Matt Birch, a Level 6 ground safety and security manager, and five Level 4 and Level 5 flight safety officer and manager positions.
These reductions could be related to the drone’s latest FAA exemptions, which eliminate the need for several on-ground staff to oversee drone flights. One former employee says that the company could also be redirecting its efforts and funding away from flight-testing the MK27-2 to focus on developing the MK30—a lighter, smaller drone that can fly in light rain—which is set to go into service in 2024. Others think that Amazon is waiting to see whether proposed federal legislation, the Increasing Competitiveness for American Drones Act of 2023, passes and changes the FAA’s licensing requirements for drones. Spokesperson Maria Boschetti said in an email that “it’s wrong to suggest that any role reductions or delays affect our commitment to safety or change our long-term plans to deliver this program for our customers.” She added that Amazon is “excited about [drone delivery] now” as it was 10 years ago.
At the time of the layoffs in January, the only customer deliveries in Lockeford had happened on Taylor Ranch Road, a street with just five homes and a clear view of the Amazon facility across a vineyard, according to two former employees at the site. By March 24, the Lockeford service had reached nine customers, says Zamarripa, who spoke to a Prime Air visual observer. Still, it may be too soon to write off the program as a failure.
Video: Micah Lloyd
Micah Lloyd, a 47-year-old building-supply sales manager who signed up for Prime Air drone delivery in October, recently received his eighth delivery at his house on the end of Taylor Ranch Road. At first, he had reservations about enrolling and was wary of the waiver he had to sign, which remains in his inbox but can no longer be opened. From what he remembers, the form, sent via DocuSign, contained “legalese” that granted Amazon employees permission to come on his property should a drone fall there. He’s not worried about that, he says, because he has “a big fence and dogs.” More concerning, Lloyd says, was the language specifying that “anything Amazon videotaped would be considered their property.” (Zammit said by email that customers “do not sign a waiver granting such rights” and that the language “likely refers to limited pre-delivery testing that took place in September and October last year before customer deliveries started.”)
In any case, the point may be moot. Lloyd, who says his family enjoys watching the drones descend over the family’s rear deck, was willing to accept the original terms as he understood them. When he spoke to WIRED in mid-March, he was perusing Gillette razor blade refills on the Prime Air website. He says that he is a shopaholic, like many Americans—driven to buy things like soap, batteries, and bandages because of the convenience of online delivery services like Amazon’s. Low prices and one-hour delivery are hard to resist, and he’s received $150 in gift cards and other incentives to sweeten the deal.
“This is obviously the future,” he says. “Soon they’ll be flying all over the place, so why not? The worst thing that can happen is I don’t like it, and I can cancel the service.”
