A delivery drone operated by Amazon dropped a package directly into a swimming pool at a customer's home in Richmond, Texas, on Monday, according to footage shared on social media. The incident occurred as Amazon is preparing to expand its Prime Air drone delivery service to 500 cities across the United States by the end of the year.
Lindsey Austen, the customer, received an alert that her package was out for delivery. She then heard the drone's buzzing noise and went outside to witness the delivery. Instead of a successful drop-off, she saw the drone open its hatch and release the package into her pool. The event was captured on video, which later went viral.
"When it went into the pool, I was shocked," Austen stated, expressing her reluctance for further drone deliveries. The contents of the waterlogged package remain unknown.
Amazon announced on Wednesday its intention to broaden the reach of its Prime Air program, which offers delivery in as little as 30 minutes. The expansion is set to include suburban areas around major cities such as Chicago, Atlanta, Syracuse, and Cleveland. While the service has already completed hundreds of thousands of deliveries this year, it is limited to packages weighing up to five pounds, with only one package delivered per flight.
Prime Air deliveries are free for Amazon Prime members on orders over $50. Smaller orders cost $2.99 for Prime members and $4.99 for non-members.
An Amazon spokesperson, Allie Payne, acknowledged the incident, stating that such delivery issues are rare. "Prime Air provides customers with fast, reliable delivery across a broad selection of products and the response from customers using Prime Air has been overwhelmingly positive," Payne said. "Incidents are extremely rare, and when a delivery doesn’t go as planned, we learn from it to improve the experience and take steps to prevent it from happening in the future."
Payne also noted that Amazon's A-to-Z Guarantee covers situations where items do not arrive as expected, offering refunds or replacements. The company has been contacted for further comment on the specific incident.