Amazon Drone Delivery Was Supposed to Start By 2018. Here's What Happened Instead

Amazon's squadron of delivery drones was supposed to be in full flight by now. And the fall of 2021 would have been an opportune time to have little automated flying machines delivering packages to customers--what with all the trouble human workers are causing around the country with strikes and labor shortages. Amazon announced an experimental drone delivery service with great fanfare as part of a 60 Minutes feature in 2013. Amazon's promise was quite remarkable: Your packages--containing anything from toothpaste to a new smartphone--would arrive right at your doorstep (or on your lawn) by way of a drone that lands, drops your parcel and flies away. Jeff Bezos, Amazon's then-CEO, said in the televised segment that it would likely take "four to five years" to turn the "R&D project" into a reality.