Are Drones the Future of Parcel Delivery?

Everyone remembers when Amazon made waves in 2013 by announcing it was testing drone delivery. Most assumed it was a joke—and back then, maybe it sort of was.  Fast-forward to today, however, and drone delivery is becoming not just possible, but plausible.

Canada Post is the latest salient organization to reveal it is seriously considering the idea. The national post office is exploring the concept of small drones delivering mail in Canada, a spokesman announced recently.

“We are in a competitive space, especially when it comes to parcel delivery and things like that,” Jon Hamilton, a Canada Post spokesman, told The Canadian Press. “We do look into these things.”

Currently, drones are popular among hobbyists and in certain industries, such as film and YouTube, where the  small, unmanned aerial vehicles enable new levels of cinematic footage.

Canada Post’s delivery network currently consists of  13,000 vehicles, 6,000 post offices, and zero drones. The organization’s top priority is not flying mail, but maximizing the efficiency of its existing resources, Hamilton said. Even Amazon bills its “Prime Air” as a “future” service with no promised launch date.

Still, it’s fun to think about.