Posted on 08/20/2026 11:34:40 AM PDT by DFG
Lindsey Austen received an alert that a drone was approaching her home in Richmond on Monday – prompting her to excitedly run outside to see it.
Austen told Storyful it was the first time one of her packages had been dropped off by the flying robot. She began recording before the drop-off turned out to be a total disaster.
Footage showed the drone hovering high above her pool in her backyard, making tons of noise as the propellers kept it in the air before a hatch opened, releasing her package.
'Oh my god,' Austen said in shock.
The drone dropped her fairly large Amazon box into her pool, plunging it into the water. The faux pas prompted her to let out an expletive.
'I don't think I'll be wanting any more drone deliveries,' she told the outlet, adding that the delivery had left her shocked.
Amazon prompts users to pick a safe delivery site, suggesting customers select a drop-off location at least 10 feet away from people, pets, vehicles and objects taller than 5 feet.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Amazon for comment.
Users on X shared several concerns after watching Austen's disappointing experience with the futuristic delivery system.
'There is no possible way that's going to be mass adopted. Not because it's not cool, but because of how loud it is,' one person wrote.
Another penned: 'I'm more confused about why it's dropping deliveries off from so high in the air.'
'To be fair, if it didn't land in the pool it might be in 15 pieces after being dropped from that height,' a third added.
Amazon began using drone delivery in 2022 and plans to roll out the delivery system to 500 cities in the US by the end of this year.
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Yep, and the box floated. She was there to retrieve it. I’m sure it was fine.
Insane
And what percent of these types of deliveries were successful?
And how does that compare with other forms of delivery?
What about safety? How many accidents do Amazon drivers cause every year?
Again, it’s wrong to draw bad conclusions from small sample sizes.
“ Amazon prompts users to pick a safe delivery site, suggesting customers select a drop-off location at least 10 feet away from people, pets, vehicles and objects taller than 5 feet.”
***************************************************************
Well, to be fair, the customer’s selection of a drop-off location met all those criteria.
“to be fair...”
Words of an apologist for bad behavior.
Better than dropping it on the pavement.
Am I the only one who finds this scenario amusing? Does that make me a bad person?
And like the poster above said-it dropped in her pool! Probably the best outcome!
Same way NASA does it.
My post number 6 does not apply to your comment since you were using it in a diferent context:)
Well if the box contained pool toys no big deal.....if it was an iMac however...
The programmer was probably a newspaper boy in his childhood.
Robot driven cars MIGHT be safer.
I was wondering IF the drone took a picture of the box delivered to the pool before it flew away?
dystopian drone delivery that went DISASTROUSLY wrong,
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Some disater. Were there many death or dimemberments as a result of this disaster?
I meant for post #10 to be addressed to this comment.
(argh I’m out of here!)
Packaged with a lot of styrofoam, floats, and maybe plastic wrapped so it wouldn’t get wet inside the purchased item. Was this actually on purpose?
Wish online shops would allow you to pick how you want your stuff delivered even if it meant paying a different rate
Okay, I am laying in my hammock, and it began swinging from side to side as I laughed aloud at the thought of that!
Followed immediately by the “Rate this delivery...”
“ to be fair...”
……………………….
Words of an apologist for bad behavior.
**************************************
Dude, it was SARCASM.
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