Wal-Mart's Drones Are Impractical And Silly (And Will Probably Never Happen)

Last week, Wal-Mart filed a patent for in-store service drones that could locate and deliver items to customers within the store. From the patent's description, the drones would be equipped with a number of sensors to be able to detect and grab the correct product and then drop it off at a designated landing area where consumers can grab the item. Just last fall, Wal-Mart also filed a patent for electronic self-driving shopping carts that can find the items on customers' shopping lists, and would also self-sort once a customer is finished with the cart, clearing aisles. Wal-Mart, which employs roughly 1.5 million people and is the 15th biggest public company in the world, makes about $482 billion in revenue a year. Adding drones to the mix could signal that Wal-Mart is looking to downsize its in-store employee number and replace them with robotic help.