Wing and Walmart held a drone delivery demonstration last week at the Walmart Supercenter on Route 73 in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, according to Influential Drones, a drone services company based in neighboring Marlton. The company posted photos over the weekend of a Wing aircraft in flight and a drone marked “DEMO” on a stand, and wrote that the demonstration was for the local community.
When Wing and Walmart added Philadelphia to their delivery network in June, Walmart named no stores and gave no launch date. The first Wing demo to surface in the area took place on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River.
Wing’s Walmart Page Still Lists Philadelphia as Coming Soon
Walmart’s Mount Laurel Supercenter, store #5944, sits at 934 Route 73. Wing’s Walmart page, which added Denver and Seattle this month, lists Philadelphia as “Coming soon” and does not mention New Jersey as of October 19. Neither company has tied the demo to that launch.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in June that service would reach Philadelphia sometime in 2027, and that a Walmart spokesperson gave no timeline and did not say which of the city’s five stores would get it. Philadelphia would be the first Northeast market in Walmart’s drone program, the paper noted. Wing’s June 8 announcement gave no dates for the seven new metros. It said the partners would “work closely with local leaders and community members” before launching in each city.
The photos show a demonstration setup, and none of them shows a nest or a loading enclosure. A worker in a hard hat and safety vest stands beside ground markers inside portable orange crowd barriers. Bentonville’s staff conditions for a Wing nest at Walmart’s Store #100 included an eight-foot fence.
Walmart’s website put Wing’s range at up to eight miles from a store in June, and the drones lower orders on a tether, the Inquirer reported. Delivery is free for Walmart+ members for a limited time and $19.99 for everyone else.
West Deptford Said in Late August That Amazon Lacked FAA Approval to Fly There
Local officials said Amazon planned to start Prime Air deliveries this fall from 240 Mantua Grove Road in West Deptford as early as October. West Deptford then told News 12 New Jersey that Amazon lacked the FAA approvals to fly there and still needed planning or zoning board approval.
West Deptford Mayor James Mehaffey and Mantua Police Chief William Murphy gave the October timing to the Inquirer, and Murphy shared a screenshot he said came from an Amazon Zoom briefing, showing a delivery radius of about 15 miles. Mantua Mayor Bob Zimmerman said in a Facebook post that the township has “no say over the matter.” By August 23, more than 100 people had signed a petition asking for public hearings and written disclosures about Prime Air’s data practices.
Amazon told West Deptford it was in the early stages of diligence for a proposed Prime Air operation and agreed to hold public information sessions before starting, News 12 reported on August 27. A DroneXL search of news coverage on October 19 found no report of those sessions and no later update on Amazon’s FAA status there.
DroneXL’s Take
I’d rather a town meet its delivery drones over a Walmart parking lot than through a relayed Zoom briefing. Wing flew an aircraft on Route 73, where people could watch it. Amazon’s South Jersey plan reached residents second-hand, and more than 100 of them answered with a petition.
A demo still isn’t a permit, though. If Wing files for a nest on Route 73, ask Mount Laurel’s planning board for the conditions Bentonville’s staff attached to its Wing permit: monthly reports of daily flights, property-line noise checks and a 24/7 emergency contact. The township has the most leverage before an application is approved.
Sources: Influential Drones on Facebook, Walmart Supercenter #5944, Wing Walmart delivery page, Wing, June 8, 2026 announcement, The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 12, 2026, The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 23, 2026, News 12 New Jersey, August 27, 2026
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
