Amazon has ceased its Prime Air drone delivery in Lockeford, even as the e-commerce giant is expanding the service in other locations.
Two years ago, Amazon picked Lockeford and College Station, Texas, as pilot locations for Prime Air drone delivery, which could take delivery times for some items from two days to an hour.
Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) representatives declined to say why it shuttered its Prime Air Lockeford site, which had about 12 employees.
When it started the Lockeford pilot program in 2022, Amazon said it was using it to learn how to scale to larger areas in the future. It expanded the Lockeford service a year later.
Amazon is still delivering in the Texas city, and it is adding air delivery in some parts of the West Valley region in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
At the end of April, Amazon sent Lockeford Prime Air customers a notification saying that its delivery ended that day immediately.
“Your feedback has helped improve the drone delivery experience for future customers everywhere,” the notification stated.
The custom-designed Amazon drones can carry up to five pounds in a package the size of a shoebox. The company builds its own drones.
The drones didn’t land in Lockeford deliveries. Rather they dropped packages from a low hover of about 5 feet to 8 feet onto a target customers placed in an open space in their backyards. Amazon told its customers to discard the targets.
The air delivery had limitations. It couldn’t deliver in areas with a significant tree canopy or during temperatures in the 90s or higher or during rain. Amazon is now using a more advanced MK30 drone, which can fly in light rain.
Amazon said it will continue to serve Lockeford customers with other delivery methods.
In a company blog, Amazon thanked Lockeford.
"We want to thank the community for all their support and feedback over the past few years. We’ll continue delivering in College Station, Texas, and will open further U.S. locations in 2025," said Amazon's blog.
Lockeford is in northern San Joaquin County surrounded by wineries. It has a population of around 3,500.
For the Prime Air service, Amazon built an onboard sense-and-avoid system that helps the drone avoid stationary objects, like light poles and chimneys, as well as moving objects, like other aircraft, people and pets. Amazon worked with the Federal Aviation Administration as well as officials in Lockeford for permission to make the deliveries. Prime Air has earned an FAA air carrier certificate for its delivery service.
