August 14, 2023
Virginia couple sets world record for most items delivered via drone
In 2019, Susie Sensmeier became one of the first customers in the U.S. to receive a commercial drone delivery. She was hooked. Four years later, Susie and her husband Paul have had over 1,200 orders delivered to their front yard in Christiansburg, Virginia via Wing’s drone delivery service. We believe this sets a world record.
Susie and Paul, 84 and 83 years old, certainly are early adopters. But their profile is a bit different than the typical user of cutting-edge technology. Drone delivery arrived on the Sensmeiers’ doorstep at the right time. Susie has vision issues and no longer drives. Paul does drive, but drone delivery has helped them skip unnecessary trips. The couple even said the service has helped them stay in their home longer than they may have otherwise. Since 2019, Susie and Paul have ordered over one hundred unique items, which paint a picture of their everyday life: playing cards, colored pencils, toothbrushes, toothpaste, sunscreen, cold medicine, COVID-19 test kits, and lots of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Some of their most-ordered items include: 371 hot meals from a local Mexican restaurant 210 blueberry muffins from a local bakery 107 bottles of orange juice 93 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies from a local chapter. The most amazing part: the average delivery time from the moment they pressed order was 12 minutes and 14 seconds. A lot of new technologies spark people’s imagination because they are novel and do something remarkable. Having headache medicine flown through the air by a tiny plane and lowered in your front yard is no different. But the fact that an 84-year-old couple is currently using this service more than anyone else in the world points to something different about drone delivery. As Susie and Paul have shown, it’s a technology that may start off as a novelty – but very quickly becomes just another part of everyday life. Check out Susie and Paul’s story below.
