West Memphis is preparing for a drone delivery service, with a groundbreaking scheduled for Monday, November 2, at a West Memphis Walmart. The announcement arrives as Walmart and Alphabet's Wing push a broader drone-delivery expansion across the Memphis metropolitan area, promising to drop groceries and over-the-counter medications on customers' driveways in as little as 30 minutes.
The City of West Memphis announced the project in a Facebook post, according to the City of West Memphis. The groundbreaking is scheduled for Monday, November 2, at a West Memphis Walmart.
The West Memphis event lands amid a much larger rollout. Walmart is bringing drone delivery service to the broader Memphis metro market, according to wreg.com. The service is expected to deliver groceries and over-the-counter medications to customers' driveways or backyards in as little as 30 minutes, the station reports, using Walmart and Wing drones capable of flying up to 60 mph and lowering packages onto a customer's property through a tether system.
How Orders and Pricing Will Work
Once the service launches, customers within a delivery zone will be able to order up to five pounds of Walmart items online for drone drop-off, according to actionnews5.com. The outlet reports the service will cost $19.99 per order but will be free for Walmart+ subscribers. Customers will reportedly be able to place orders through the Walmart app or website, or directly through the Wing app, once the service goes live in a given market, per Wing's own announcement.
As of WREG's last check Thursday at noon, the service was not yet available in Memphis, the station's report notes. That detail underscores how much of this rollout remains in motion even as West Memphis prepares for a groundbreaking ceremony and infrastructure planning.
A Regional Expansion Still Taking Shape
West Memphis is not the only community in the drone-delivery pipeline. The Daily Memphian reports that Walmart and Wing drone deliveries are set to take flight over Bartlett, possibly later this year, from the Walmart at 8400 U.S. 64, though an exact launch date from that store has not yet been set. Bartlett city leaders have said Walmart is planning to launch service at that Highway 64 Supercenter, according to actionnews5.com, though specific locations were not confirmed.
Walmart has also requested permission from the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development to add drone “nest pads” at two stores in Northeast Memphis and Cordova, wreg.com reports in a separate article. The proposed enclosure at the Raleigh Lagrange Road location would include a storage kiosk, a battery generator and a drone nest with capacity for up to 18 delivery drones, according to that same report. Taken together, the planned expansion would make Memphis one of almost 20 U.S. markets with Walmart drone delivery, wreg.com notes.
The National Picture Behind the Local Rollout
Wing says it has completed well over one million commercial drone deliveries and plans to build a network of more than 270 locations reaching over 40 million Americans by 2027, according to Wing. Walmart similarly aims to serve 40 million customers with the service by 2027, per wreg.com's reporting. Wing's own figures describe the planned expansion as bringing its total service footprint to nearly 20 U.S. markets, while actionnews5.com has separately reported the program will soon cover 17 U.S. markets with Walmart planning to expand to 270 locations by 2027 — the two accounts differ slightly on the current market count even as they align on the 2027 target.
On the regulatory side, the Federal Aviation Administration's guidance on package delivery by drone identifies requirements that include complying with state and local rules, informing the local community of operations, obtaining an FAA Part 135 Certificate and Airspace Authorization, establishing hub and delivery infrastructure, complying with the National Environmental Policy Act, and responding to public inquiries, per the Federal Aviation Administration.
The West Memphis groundbreaking is scheduled for Monday, November 2. Whether the tethered drones buzzing overhead become a routine sight on West Service Road depends on the same rollout timeline still playing out across Bartlett, Cordova and the rest of the Memphis metro area.
