Walmart Offers Drone Delivery of Covid Test Kits

Taking the contactless concept to new, um, heights... JL

Bruce Japsen reports in Forbes:

Walmart has partnered with Quest and the drone services provider DroneUp to launch pilot deliveries of collection kits. Drone delivery of the Covid-19 self-collection tests will be made to single-family residences within a one-mile radius of designated Supercenters. “There is no delivery or kit cost for customers electing to receive an at home kit delivered via drone. Once the kits are delivered, the person will perform a self-administered nasal swab in the privacy of their home and send their sample back to Quest Diagnostics for testing using the included pre-paid shipping label.”

Walmart will test drone delivery of “at home Covid-19 self-collection kits” made by Quest Diagnostics as the pandemic rages on and the retailer looks for new contactless ways to reach customers.

Walmart Tuesday said it has partnered with Quest and the drone services provider DroneUp to launch pilot deliveries of collection kits in North Las Vegas Tuesday and Cheektowaga, N.Y. beginning early next month. Financial terms of the partnership weren’t disclosed.

The effort is Walmart’s latest in the drone delivery space. The retail giant already has drone trials under way to deliver “select grocery and household essentials” and a separate drone delivery test of certain health and wellness products. Walmart says the drone delivery of Covid-19 tests builds on its effort to build more innovative “contactless” delivery models during the pandemic.

“The kits will land on the driveway, front sidewalk, or backyard of the customer’s home, depending on where there are cars and trees,” Walmart senior vice president of customer product, Tom Ward, said in a company announcement Tuesday.

“There is no delivery or kit cost for customers electing to receive an at home kit delivered via drone,” Ward said. “Once the kits are delivered, the person will perform a self-administered nasal swab in the privacy of their home and send their sample back to Quest Diagnostics for testing using the included pre-paid shipping label.”

Walmart’s expansion of drone delivery in the healthcare services space comes as retail rivals like Amazon, CVS Health and Walgreens Boots Alliance also experiment with drone delivery of prescriptions and other healthcare products. 

In Walmart’s case, drone delivery of the Covid-19 self-collection tests will be made to single-family residences within a one-mile radius of designated Supercenters in North Las Vegas and Cheektowaga.

“There’s a lot we can learn from our drone delivery pilots to help determine what roles drones can play in pandemic response, health care delivery and retail,” Walmart’s Ward said. “Our hope is the drone delivery Covid-19 self-collection kit launch will shape contactless testing capabilities on a larger scale and continue to bolster the innovative ways Walmart plans to use drone delivery in the future.”