Amazon was issued a patent last week for their new plans to use drones to deliver packages. The packages would be carried above a drop point and released using tools like springs and a parachute to guide the parcel to its destination.

The company’s machines would hover near the drop off point equipped with sensors and a camera to make sure that the package would land in the intended area. If it was going off course, the drone could trigger the parachute or any other stabilizing mechanism to be deployed. However, more technology could mean more potential problems.

Michael Nevarez, 12, wonders about the issues these drones could face in their first test run.

“Amazon would probably know how to counter it but rain and storms would probably cause some damage,” Nevares said. “If the drone flies off because of a big wind then someone probably would never get their package.”

These advancements allow for a growth in delivery efficiency given that the drones work properly. Instead of using a truck to deliver multiple packages, a dedicated unmanned aerial vehicle may deliver a single package to a single consumer.

For customers like Thomas Sanchez, 11, this form of delivery would be a benefit to his online shopping experience.

“I buy pretty much everything from Amazon,” Sanchez said. “I don’t really go to Target or anything. I just get my stuff from Amazon so having a drone would be really cool. It would probably make things easier.”

Recently, Amazon has been testing these drones in the U.K. as a result of the difficulty to test to full capacity in the United States. Drone laws are more strict in the United States as opposed to the United Kingdom. More specifically, the problem is that it is against the law to let these machines fly unsupervised in the way the online shopping giants desire.

Keven Molina, 12, is an avid drone user and knows the issues regarding their sudden immersion into the market.

“Five years ago it would be a lot harder to be able to buy a drone at Walmart,” Molina said. “It was like a military thing only. Now you can get one like at Radioshack, but now that you can get it so easily not everyone is gonna learn how to take care of a drone and how to fly it legally.”

 
While this form of delivery has been an idea for years, it is just now being seriously planned. Blueprints for the idea can be found online and Amazon has started to invest in resources to make aerial delivery a real possibility.