You Almost Crushed UPS This Year: UPS Enters the Drone Wars

Ding, ding, ding. This week UPS completed its first drone test, signaling a drop of the hat into the Drone Wars. Cited as a response to e-commerce this Christmas being the highest and creating a delivery demand that almost destroyed UPS as a whole. Seeing drone technology as a potential answer, the delivery giant’s drone test was able to successfully move a parcel from starting point to destination completely unmanned. Call the development as an ‘experiment into this new technology’ little else has been said about actual plans for implementation.

56.5% of customers in a recent National Retail Federation survey said they’ll be doing their shopping online this year, representing a majority of US gift shoppers for the first time in history. In response UPS plans 15 new hubs and a more serious look into alternative delivery options. And it gets worst...

Most interesting of the new approaches with UPS’s decision to use golf carts as a part of their delivery strategy this Christmas in Florida, Texas and California. Meanwhile getting Portland’s hipster's beard wax and ironic sweaters using electric tricycles. The desperate lunge at salvation saw an unprecedented volume of complaints as customer packages often arrived soaking wet, late, and incorrect. All of these alternatives plus a nod at self driving cars tell us one thing...

E-commerce is going to be the jet fuel of the drone revolution. The demand for on-demand and speedy delivery is enough to bury even UPS if it increases even marginally next year. With buying becoming easier, and a highly innovative competition pool for delivery, shoppers are no longer restricted by cart size, weather considerations, remembering where you parked at Wal-Mart, or how much they want to carry up the stairs when making shopping decisions. E-commerce allows people to buy more than they could or even would before. The solution; a breakneck race towards an alternative that will be life or death for UPS, Amazon and co in years to come. UPS is in the drone wars and it’s fighting for it’s survival.