Unboxing the Trends: Will Drone Deliveries Take Off? With Tim Ranagan and Lori Boyer From EasyPost - Ep. 64
In This Episode
So far, 2025 has kept us on our toes, especially with all the uncertainty surrounding tariffs. But in this episode of Unboxing the Trends, Lori and Tim take a break from the tariff talk to discuss three major trends from June: warehouse automation, carrier shifts, and drone deliveries.
Listen to this 15-minute episode to get up to date with the latest shipping and logistics happenings!
Amazon reaches a million warehouse robots
As of last month, Amazon has deployed over a million robots in their warehouses. As Lori points out, robots now outnumber human workers! It might sound a little dystopian, but automation is incredibly helpful for businesses—as long as they don’t neglect their human employees.
Lori recommends, “Don’t just drop some tech in without training. Make sure that your people are part of the process.”
Carrier relationships are shifting
UPS and FedEx have each made changes to their relationships with Amazon. “UPS has pulled back a whole bunch from its Amazon business,” Lori explains, “while FedEx has picked up a bunch of the Amazon volume.”
What does that mean for your shipping?
“If you're super UPS dependent, you might see maybe a little bit of disruption … maybe some reliability concerns. On the flip side, if you are heavily dependent on FedEx, you'll have steady operation that's expanded, but you might face tighter capacity.”
Walmart expands drone delivery
Walmart has partnered with Wing to offer drone delivery to over 100 new stores across major metropolitan areas like Houston and Atlanta.
This signals that drone delivery may be moving past the “novelty stage [and] expanding into something that people are starting to use and expect.”
But don’t get too excited yet. It remains to be seen whether drone delivery will take off or fall flat. The two determining factors: regulations and cost-effectiveness.
Links
Transcript
Tim Ranagan 00:00
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Unboxing the Trends. I'm your host, Tim Rangan, and I'm joined once again by the host of Unboxing Logistics, Lori Boyer. Lori, it's great to have you back. We've been gone for a couple months. How have you been? How's your summer been? Have you been up to anything fun lately?
Lori Boyer 00:20
I am so excited to be back. I mean, is there anything more fun than unboxing the trends and learning about logistics? But no, I am, I have coming up my first ever trip to Canada.
Tim Ranagan 00:35
Whoa.
Lori Boyer 00:36
That's exciting. That's in August. But other than that, we had a little family get together for my mom's 75th birthday. That was super fun and just kind of trying to stay cool from the Texas heat.
Tim Ranagan 00:50
Yeah, I bet. Well, happy birthday, mom. It's it's good to be back with you, Lori. Let's go ahead and jump right in. I know we've got a lot to talk about since we missed, I believe we missed June. So a lot of trends coming up over the last couple months. Let's just start with that. What have you seen, what have you heard what's some of the biggest news happening in shipping and logistics?
Lori Boyer 01:13
It's been a pretty remarkable month for automation and last mile innovation. First Amazon hit a really cool milestone. They've now deployed over a million robots in their warehouses. They're actually at the point now where the number of robots they have outnumber their human workers, which is crazy.
You know, we've talked about kind of the robotic, futuristic world and it's not really theoretical, it's kind of reality. Yeah. We're also seeing when it comes to robots on this kind of automation and robot trend in the warehouse DHL just this last month announced rolling out. Thousands of stretch robots.
Boston Dynamic Stretch robots, I think they're called. It's gonna automate all of their truck unloading, which is really cool. So kind of keeping a close eye on warehouse robotics going on right now. Last mile though. So we talked about automation in the warehouse also this, in June, Walmart in conjunction with a company called Wing announced the largest drone delivery expansion that we've ever seen.
So a hundred new stores across a bunch of major metro areas, including Houston and Atlanta, a bunch of places are adding to this drone piece, so. It's a clear sign. If you've been around and watched me on anything over the last couple of years, you know that I'm kind of a drone lover, a secret drone stan, as the kids would say.
So just kind of moving past those though, just that novelty stage, it's expanding into something that people are starting to use and expect. So I think overall kind of that theme that we're seeing in June, and I think it's an interesting month as we're moving, you know, it's early enough before peak season hits.
We're seeing automation. It's here. This isn't a futuristic, it's coming. It, it's already here. And I want, if you give me, just forgive me, Tim, 'cause this is technically, the stuff happened in May, but we weren't here. So carriers. We talk carriers constantly. That's us, our bread and butter. So yeah, we've been seeing a couple of shifts in the carrier landscape, specifically when it comes to UPS and FedEx and their relationship with Amazon.
So UPS has pulled back a whole bunch from its Amazon business, while FedEx has picked up a bunch of the Amazon volume. So what does that mean? When I talk to businesses, they're like, okay, how does that impact me as a shipper? I would just say, if you're super UPS dependent, you might see maybe a little bit of disruption in having, you know, the consolidated facilities and, and the network itself.
So maybe some sort of reliability concerns. On the flip side, if you are really heavily def dependent on FedEx you'll have great, steady operation that's expanded, but you might have some capacity, you might face tight, tighter capacity. And we're actually seeing a little bit of, of rate hikes coming on, especially on those bulky shipments that you may see as they're absorbing that Amazon freight.
So either way, I just say always, this is definitely a year to make sure you have a contingency plan. Make sure that you're looking into expanding your carrier network. That's something that, again, isn't just the future, but is here. That's kind of what I'm seeing on the carrier side.
Tim Ranagan 04:41
Love it. Lots going on, just like we talked about. Okay, so that's super fascinating that Amazon now has more robots in their warehouse than human workers. You, you never think we were gonna get to that point, but here it is, 2025, we're there. It's fascinating. So you made a couple comments. I wanted to dive into a couple of these areas.
So first we're gonna go into, you know, all about drones. So you said you're kind of a drone aficionado.
Lori Boyer 05:10
I'm a drone nerd.
Tim Ranagan 05:11
A drone nerd. So, okay, Lori, lay it on us. What do you think is the biggest factor that may decide whether drones see a huge uptick in being a delivery method or if it fizzles out. I feel like we've been hearing about drones for like the last decade. And maybe now we're starting to see some of that technology take effect and more companies start to adopt that as a, as an emerging technology.
But what are your thoughts? What's gonna help it gain traction? What's gonna maybe see a fizzle.
Lori Boyer 05:45
Tim, right on the nose with that. Every time I bring up drones, half the people roll their eyes and they're like, whatever. Drones are never gonna work. And some of 'em are nerds like me. I just really love technology and like to pretend I'm living like with the Jetsons or something.
So drones seem cool, but I think actually the biggest piece that kind of is gonna play into how drones really scale, or if it just sticks where it is. I mean, people are obviously investing in it, so there's obviously that investment piece, but the biggest challenge right now is actually regulation. Mm.
Yep. It was about a year ago, I think it was May of 2024 that Amazon got the first FAA approval to fly drones beyond the visual line of sight. So before that point, the drone operator actually had to be able to see the drone at all times, which obviously didn't make it scalable or effective.
So, they were able to get that approval kind of by a special waiver. And, and then that was what got Amazon starting. You know, we saw drone expansion of deliveries in like College Station, Texas, places like that. Because they didn't have to have people tracking. But we haven't had a nationwide rule for that.
Right now, every individual company, so Walmart. Walmart actually didn't have to for this because Wing, the company they worked, with already had that waiver. But every person who wants to has to go and go through a process, get a waiver. We don't have a national rule. We've seen a lot about drones in the news over the last month.
You guys may have noticed as you're watching out there, that was because just this week, July 7th was supposed to be the date set by Congress where we were supposed to have passed a nationwide framework to allow, figure out how to do this and and it didn't happen. So obviously that's made it a little bit more complicated.
I don't know what the FAA will do moving forward, but I think if regulators stay cautious, and they often are, expansion is gonna be slow. So yeah, if on the cost side, obviously it's gotta be a moneymaker, so if drone delivery is cheaper than a regular van drop off, it will work. If it is not cheaper, it's gonna stay really niche.
And so I think in the next couple of years let's just keep an eye on it. I think we'll see drones thrive really in those dense suburban areas where there's high demand maybe high cost SKUs. Things like that are gonna really play into the drone arena, but, but not all. So yeah. Regulation and cost.
Just keep an eye on it. And someday I'm gonna get my first drone delivery and I'm gonna take a picture and celebrate.
Tim Ranagan 08:42
Seems like those are always the two factors that come into play with anything, regulation and cost. So it's right in line with pretty much everything else. You know what's really cool is I watched a video of a drone display for the 4th of July, and it was, it was basically a King Kong silhouette climbing up the Empire State Building but they were all drones. So if they don't make it in the shipping and logistics and delivery aspect, they still can, you know, stay in their niche of drone shows.
Lori Boyer 09:14
I appreciate that, Tim. I can love drones in all kinds of arenas.
Tim Ranagan 09:19
There you go. There you go. All right, Lori, let's let's switch gears a little bit. Okay. We're gonna still stay in kind of robotics, but I want to talk about robotics enabled warehouses. Okay? So if we have listeners right now that are wondering, you know, we wanna start automating, we're not really sure how we get into that game or how we get into that space.
What's step one, or what are some recommendations that you may have, Lori, for them to kind of take that first step into enabling robotics within their warehouses?
Lori Boyer 09:51
Great, great question Tim. Obviously it's easy to look at Amazon's million robots and have massive investment. I'm in trouble, I don't even have one robot, you know. My advice is to pick one of your workflows. If you've listened to Lori Boyer, you know, I'm always about picking one. So pick one workflow. Look for one that is repetitive and measurable, repetitive and measurable. Maybe your trailer unloading your goods to person, picking something that you can easily measure.
And then get some automation there. Do it in a single case. Prove the ROI on that single use case and then continue to scale. I wanna make a little note here. We need to get automation. If you have the smallest warehouse, there still amazing things you can do with automation. It would, even if you have the most massive, like some of those huge Amazon ones, those small ones could make a big difference. I want to say though, don't forget the people side. Sometimes we get excited about the tech, but you know, Amazon, in addition to having a million robots, have talked about that they are working on investment in upskilling hundreds of thousands of employees to work with.
So smaller companies, you still need to do the same. It's just gonna be a smaller scale. So you're not gonna just drop some tech in without training. Make sure that your people are part of the process. Ask your people where you, they think that things could be automated. Get them involved from the beginning and make sure you're focusing on those people during the same thing.
So yeah, start small. Don't get overwhelmed. Make sure it's repetitive and measurable. Don't forget the people. That would be my advice if you're wanting to automate.
Tim Ranagan 11:40
I, I, I love that recommendation, Lori. Oftentimes what we find is when you're making changes with any type of area of your business, if you can find employee champions of those changes that you're making, it just makes the whole process that much easier for everybody involved.
Lori Boyer 11:57
Exactly. Exactly. You don't wanna force people into things that they are not invested in. So, great point, Tim.
Tim Ranagan 12:06
Well, Lori, this has been a great episode. Lots going on over the last ...
Lori Boyer 12:10
Super futuristic, huh?
Tim Ranagan 12:11
Yeah. Super. Few drones and robotic enabled warehouses. So the works. Looking ahead, let's let's talk about one thing that you think everyone in logistics should be paying close attention to. So as you look, you know, we're, we're right on the precipice of peak season, right? Right. Hold on. So peak's gonna be starting up in full swing here in the next month, month and a half. So what's the one thing in shipping logistics you think everybody should keep their attention on as we head into the end of the year?
Lori Boyer 12:41
Okay. First thing that you should totally be watching, don't take your eye off for a second, is Lori Boyer. The Unboxing Logistics podcast. Okay. I'm cheating.
Tim Ranagan 12:55
Well said. Well, well said. It's a nice plug, but ...
Lori Boyer 12:57
I do wanna try to make sure, you mentioned peak season. We are having a full blown campaign all around peak season.
I've been talking to experts from retail, from, you know, Forrester to tell us what are retailers doing. I've been talking to experts in transportation and automation and really diving into the research to see what are big companies doing to manage tariffs. And so if you have any questions around peak, I've really, really been dedicating a huge amount of time into trying to study and figure out what you need to know.
So. Do stay attuned to Unboxing Logistics, but if you had to look away from me for a minute I would, I'm personally gonna be watching to see kind of how these big, large scale automation deployments actually pay off. I think, yeah, Amazon hitting parity between robots and humans is massive and historic, but it's also crazy, a real test of whether robots can consistently deliver faster and cheaper without introducing new challenges.
Often we get new challenges, so I'm really interested to keep an eye on that. I'm really also keeping my eye on what the, the midsize regional players are doing to adopt robotics, AI because, you know, that's when we know that automation is really mainstream when we see the, the mid-level players really adapting.
So agility is the name of the game though. As we're going into peak season, 2025 has been an insane year. It's still gonna be crazy, and so I just say be agile, be ready to pivot. Don't look for a perfect playbook. You're just gonna have to be willing to, you know, take the hits as they come. So that's my advice for you today.
Tim Ranagan 14:50
Love it. Well, thank you, Lori. This has been another episode of Unboxing the Trends featuring our very own Lori Boyer. Please remember to like and subscribe so you can stay up to date on all the trends that we talk about in Unboxing the Trends. And until next time, we'll see you then.
Lori Boyer 15:07
See you everybody.