By Bruce Condit, Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association
Drones are big business and getting bigger every day. The FAA expects more than one million of the buzzing gyrocopters to fly off the shelves this holiday season. However, while consumers are buying drones as toys or gifts, major retailers are using them to save money in facilities maintenance.
Both Amazon and Google plan to use drones to deliver packages; and the first commercial drone delivery did take place in Virginia on July 17. However, realistically it is going to take a long time and a lot of red-tape cutting before the FAA will allow package-carrying drones to replace Santa or even deliver tacos from your local restaurant.
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While the commercial drone delivery business is mired in red tape and slow taking off, the use of drones in retail facility maintenance is already flying off the ground. Recently during the Professional Retail Store Maintenance (PRSM) Association’s Mid-Year Conference attendees learned that drones can do a lot more than deliver packages.
Commercial, camera-carrying drones can help retailers save thousands in maintenance costs. Imagine the amount of time it would take a maintenance crew to climb on top of a large big box retailer, like a large Walmart Supercenter or a Costco, and manually walk the entire roof to do an inspection. It can easily take hours, there’s always safety risks involved, and many times you can’t see roof problems lurking below the surface of the roof that could create future leaks. Drones can.
A drone mounted with an infrared camera can scan the entire roof in less than an hour, and provide video that maintenance crews can use to quickly spot problem areas. They can also be used to measure the amount of snow piling up on a store roof to help avoid a roof collapse. Plus, rooftop video can provide an inventory of HVAC equipment and the video can be stored for future reference, all without ever having to climb up onto the roof.
Drones can access areas unavailable to airplanes or helicopters, and at a fraction of the cost. They can perform aerial surveys of property, provide valuable information on heat or cooling loss by using thermography, and deliver hi-res video and photos that can be used to identify problems maintenance crews could never see using traditional methods. Retailers can also use drones to access unsafe areas. Insurance companies like State Farm, AIG and Total Safety are using drones to inspect sites and reduce accidents.
During the PRSM presentation, retailers learned that they cannot simply go out and buy a commercial drone and begin using it. According to FAA regulations drones used for commercial work must be piloted by a licensed pilot. In addition, if the drone will be flown anywhere near a commercial airport the FAA must be contacted in advance and clearance received before the drone can fly.
However, these regulations do not prevent retailers from using drones. There are several retail service companies who now offer FAA-approved drone services, operated by licensed pilots. Even with the service being provided by a third party, large retail stores can still save thousands of dollars by using drones.
So, it looks like retailers will benefit from drones two ways this holiday season. They will make millions selling them to consumers and if they use drones in their facility maintenance programs, they could save even more.
Bruce Condit is the Director of Communications & PR for the Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association (PRSM). He likes to spread the news about the hottest trends in retail facilities maintenance. He has more than three decades or PR & Marketing experience with leading Fortune 500 companies.
