Amazon Prime Air is slated to start drone deliveries in Tallahassee by mid-November, the company’s Josh Brundage said at a public showing of its MK30 drone at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center on Tuesday, October 20. The drones will fly items of up to 5 pounds (2.3 kilograms) from the Mahan Drive fulfillment center to homes within 7.5 miles (12 kilometers), and Brundage put the fee at $4.99.
Brundage is senior manager of commercial operations for Prime Air. The Tallahassee fleet will have up to 21 drones, with up to 10 in the air at a time, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
The structure that will house the drones at the warehouse is still under permit review, the Democrat reported, and Brundage declined to give details on it. The FAA’s public list of drone delivery environmental reviews had no Tallahassee entry when DroneXL checked it on October 21.
Amazon Offers Tallahassee Customers Preset Drop Points Away From Trees
Amazon has “a very good understanding of everything in that seven and a half mile circle,” trees included, Brundage told the Tallahassee Democrat. At checkout, a drone customer sees a satellite image of their property. It shows several drop points Amazon picked in advance, away from trees.
That goes to the question Commissioner Jeremy Matlow raised last month, when he said he imagines Tallahassee’s tree cover will make many neighborhoods hard to serve without flying dangerously low, as DroneXL reported when a city commissioner called for drone rules Florida law doesn’t allow. The drone still comes down to about 12 feet (3.7 meters) in the backyard to release the box, and that, Brundage told WCTV, is when it’s “going to be the most noticeable.” WTXL reported he likened it to a vacuum or lawn mower.
The Amazon warehouse on Mahan Drive stocks more than three million drone-eligible items, each small enough for a shoebox-sized package. A display case at the event held examples: crayons, a thermometer, cough medicine, wipes, markers and batteries. The Democrat reported deliveries in as little as 30 minutes; Brundage told WCTV the goal at launch is under two hours.
The $4.99 fee may not be what every customer pays. Amazon’s national pricing, published in August, is $2.99 for Prime members on orders under $50, free for Prime orders of $50 or more, and $4.99 without Prime. The Democrat quoted Brundage as saying the cost varies by market and can be free, without saying which customers the Tallahassee figure covers.
Brundage Calls Viral Mishaps Outliers. Amazon Hasn’t Explained Two Landings
Brundage suggested viral videos of a Phoenix-area dust cloud and a pool drop are outliers, saying Amazon builds the MK30 in-house and spots problems “almost in real time.” Amazon had not explained MK30 landings in Baton Rouge and Waco when DroneXL reported them on September 12 and 25.
“We’re the only ones that have to do that, so we’re incredibly nimble,” he told the Democrat, after describing how Amazon designs the drone, builds it and writes its software. The Baton Rouge drone set itself down on a grass strip beside Florida Boulevard on September 11 as storms crossed the parish. The Waco drone was found on a lawn with a wheel extended. Amazon also let a September 5 deadline pass on eight written MK30 safety questions from DroneXL.
After two MK30s hit a construction crane in Tolleson, Arizona on October 1, 2025, Amazon resumed deliveries there two days later. It said an internal review found no issue with the drones and that it had added visual inspections for cranes, as the NTSB opened an investigation.
The Democrat described the MK30 as a 70-pound drone. The FAA’s Florida environmental assessment puts it at about 78 pounds (35.4 kilograms) empty and 83.2 pounds (37.7 kilograms) at maximum takeoff, for a 5-pound box. It has six propellers and, as DroneXL reported from Commercial UAV Expo, no parachute.
Florida Law Limits What Tallahassee Can Do With Amazon’s Pending Permit
Florida’s protection depends on what Amazon builds. If the unit is a stand-alone building of up to 1,500 square feet and 36 feet tall in a nonresidential area, Florida Statute 330.41(3)(c) bars the city from withholding a development permit over its location. Amazon has not published its plans.
The city keeps the setback and landscaping rules that apply to every use in the zoning district, may not demand extra landscaping, and under subsection (3)(d) keeps its general nuisance and property-damage laws.
Since July 28, a hub that fits the FAA’s national programmatic assessment needs no new environmental review, and one that doesn’t gets a narrower tiered review, with no public comment period on either path. DroneXL covered that change when Washington cleared the runway for 500 cities. Amazon’s operating authorization is not public, so the FAA’s environmental review page does not show whether Tallahassee has been cleared. Ruskin’s neighbors got a signed Florida assessment, dated June 1, 2026, that caps each of six hubs at 1,000 flights a day.
Ruskin, outside Tampa, is the only Florida hub listed as flying on DroneXL’s Amazon Prime Air tracker as of October 21. The Democrat wrote that Ruskin has had drone delivery for more than a year; DroneXL’s Ruskin guide dates its first deliveries to March 9, 2026, about seven months before the Civic Center event.
Residents with a problem once flights start can call Amazon at 1-888-280-4331, or use the customer-service chat (“Something Else,” then “Amazon Drone Delivery”). DroneXL’s guide covers what residents can still do when Amazon’s drones arrive.
DroneXL’s Take
Brundage’s pitch is that Amazon owns the whole stack, so it can find and fix a problem fast. I believe that part, because no outside supplier stands between Amazon and a fix. But fixing a problem isn’t the same as explaining it. For the two September landings, I think Amazon has done neither in public. Residents in Baton Rouge and Waco found MK30s sitting on grass and posted them to Facebook, and Amazon had given no reason when DroneXL reported either one.
Starting as soon as mid-November, an 83-pound drone with no parachute is set to drop boxes from about 12 feet into Tallahassee backyards. Zipline’s P2 shows the other way to do it: a lighter aircraft that stays high, lowers the package on a tether and carries a parachute. I’d happily see a thermometer reach a sick kid quickly, but half the items in that Civic Center display case were crayons, markers and wipes. Before the first flight leaves Mahan Drive, Amazon should commit to publishing the cause of every precautionary landing in Tallahassee.
Sources: Tallahassee Democrat, WCTV, WTXL, FAA Florida Environmental Assessment, FAA NEPA and Drones, Florida Statute 330.41, Amazon.
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
