Drone War On Christmas

Maybe not this year, though.  Package delivery drones such as the sort that Amazon proposed this week are technologically possible but still largely impractical for a number of reasons.  Also they don't appear to solve any problem Amazon's customers can possibly identify.

The reason it generates so much excitement, though, is that it attacks a problem large companies like Amazon are continually concerned with and that is eliminating labor costs. 

The drone fleet would also eliminate a principal line of defense for the disruption Amazon has already brought to the economy. Some would argue that sure, jobs are lost as in-person retailers go out of business due to pressure from Amazon . . . but then again, more deliveries means more business for delivery workers! With drones, though, “delivery workers” are set to go the way of the travel agent and disappear. And while Amazon provides (terrifying) jobs for warehouse workers, it’s only a matter of time before robots learn how to pack boxes themselves.

This is still a pipe dream for Amazon.  But it's worth noting what they dream about. (Electric sheep?) If there's a job out there, rest assured your nation's self-described "Job Creators" are working on a way to give that job to a robot.