---
title: "Walgreens Will Start Making Drone Deliveries in October"
description: "Walgreens, FedEx, and Alphabet-owned drone operator Wing are partnering to start making drone deliveries in Virginia this October."
date: "2019-09-19"
modified: "2019-09-23"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/wing-drone-delivery-walgreens-fedex"
categories:
  - "Drones"
  - "Robotics"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "alphabet"
  - "delivery drones"
  - "drone delivery"
  - "fedex"
  - "the digest"
---

# Walgreens Will Start Making Drone Deliveries in October

![Alphabet-owned company Wing announced a partnership with FedEx and Walgreens to start making drone deliveries as soon as October.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/wing-drone-delivery-walgreens-fedex.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Wing\</em\>*

## Drone Delivery

The process of refilling your prescription at the local pharmacy just got a lot more futuristic.

Wing — which is owned by Google parent company Alphabet — just announced a partnership with FedEx and Walgreens, a national grocery store chain, to start making drone deliveries in Virginia as soon as October.

Wing claims the "first-of-its-kind trial" will explore "ways to enhance efficiency of last-mile delivery services," according to a [press release](<https://medium.com/wing-aviation/wing-unveils-plans-for-first-of-its-kind-trial-with-fedex-and-walgreens-7f17350daa09>).

## Watch Your Head

The drones can carry three pounds of cargo for six miles at a maximum speed of 60 mph. Rather than landing on somebody's porch, the drones will hover at 23 feet above the ground and lower the packages down via a cable system.

Walgreens will be offering drone deliveries of over-the-counter drugs and other "health and wellness items" as part of the trial.

## Legally

The trial with FedEx and Walgreens will kick off later this year in Christiansburg, Virginia, the same place where where the drone delivery company has been testing its drones for several years.

Wing claimed it was the first ever company to legally offer autonomous drone deliveries in the U.S. after [being certified](<https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/23/faa-wing-drone-delivery-air-carrier-certification/>) by the Federal Aviation Administration in April. Wing has even designed customized boxes to make FedEx and Walgreens deliveries.

**READ MORE:** [Alphabet is partnering with FedEx and Walgreens to bring drone delivery to the US](<https://qz.com/1712200/google-wing-launching-us-drone-deliveries-with-fedex-walgreens/>) \[*Quartz*\]

**More on drone deliveries:** *[Uber Eats Will Start Making Drone Deliveries This Summer](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/uber-eats-drone-deliveries-san-diego>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)