Unboxing the Trends: Will Drone Deliveries Take Off? With Tim Ranagan and Lori Boyer From EasyPost

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

• Connect with Lori on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loribboyer/
• Connect with Tim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-ranagan-mba-2717bb125/
• Visit EasyPost’s website: https://www.easypost.com/