Royal Mail's drone delivery service: Here's how you will receive your mail if you live in rural Scotland

Orkney is located 10 miles off the north coast of Scotland and has about 70 islands, of which 20 are inhabited. It’s not hard to imagine the unfriendly weather conditions faced by these islanders. Team that with the resulting delivery delays and dangerous conditions for staff and you begin to understand why the locals are often frustrated about the postal services. Some might even be tempted to drone on about this particular issue.

Unmanned aerial crafts to take over inter-island deliveries

Luckily for them, three of the Orkney islands are the first in the UK to benefit from this pioneering initiative, known as the Orkney I-Port operation. Firstly, post is being delivered as normal from Kirkwall to Stromness, two towns located on Orkney’s biggest island - that is named, confusingly, Mainland.

Here's how the drone delivery service works

From there, the drones - a Speedbird Aero DLV-2 model for those who are interested - drop their cargo off to staff on smaller islands Graemsay and Hoy to allow postal workers to carry out their rounds as normal.

This might seem like a shame for those who were envisaging a bespoke doorstep drop-off but the project remains ambitious. Each drone can carry a load of up to 6kg and longer term, Royal Mail hopes to have a fleet of 500 aircrafts servicing regions all over the UK.

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Royal Mail plans to create 50 new postal drone routes over the next three years

The ferries, conventional aircraft and land-based vehicles previously used may soon be a thing of the past; as well as being able to fly in harsh weather, the drones improve delivery speed and reduce emissions.

Chris Paxton, head of drone trails at Royal Mail, says:

Using a fully electric drone supports Royal Mail’s continued drive to reduce emissions associated with our operations, whilst connecting the island communities we deliver to.

This project is a significant step forward in the use of drones as part of mainstream postal services. It could be the first of many similar projects that would see remote areas benefiting from reliable, sustainable delivery services. So, let’s hope it really takes off!

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Sources used:

Sky News:Royal Mail launches UK's first drone delivery service

STV News:Royal Mail launches UK's first drone delivery service in Scotland

Iot News: Orkney Islands become UK’s first location for drone mail deliveries

The Orcadian: Royal Mail to establish Orkney drone delivery service