Blaise Tapp: Do we really need drone deliveries – or just less stuff?
Much was made last week of the UK’s first ever successful drone delivery, with plenty of media coverage to mark this most momentous of occasions, or that’s what you might believe it was, given how breathless some of the reports were.
The company behind it - you know the ones who deliver everything to almost everybody who has a front door - has already been doing this across the Pond for several years but for it to finally to happen on these shores was far too much for some to take. One of the radio reports I heard featured an incredibly enthusiastic chap waxing lyrical about why airborne deliveries were very much needed.
He enthused about just how convenient it was to be able to receive small items - the drones can deliver packages up to 5lbs in weight - in roughly two hours of placing the order, remarking that ‘you never know when you need a tape measure’. I had to listen to it twice to be sure that it wasn’t a spoof interview, along the lines of the ‘90s classic satirical programme, Brass Eye.
Sadly, I fear he speaks for millions of people who put convenience above most other things, especially rooting around in drawers and cupboards under the stairs for the three other tape measures that many households own. I’d hazard a guess that there hasn’t been a time in history that an average human has owned as much stuff as we do right now in 2026, meaning that getting hold of things that we could probably do without doesn’t need to be made any easier.
We’ve just finished the long and sometimes difficult task of clearing out my late mum’s home, which also served as a timely reminder about just how many possessions one person can actually accumulate over a lifetime. Some treasured items will remain in the family for generations I hope while much of it has been given away to friends, extended family as well as grateful strangers. Sadly, much has also made its way to the local tip, which has made me ask myself serious questions about whether I really do need much of what I own.
Among the countless things we discovered at my mum’s were seven pairs of good condition kitchen scissors. I shudder to imagine just how many more we might have discovered had she had drone delivery as an option.