Wing and Walmart pitched drone delivery to the Board of Aldermen in Manchester, Missouri, on Monday night, and Mayor Benjamin Toben said afterward that no drones will deliver in the city this year, even if Manchester approves the service.
Aldermen and residents asked about surveillance. A Wing representative told them the aircraft are “equipped for delivery only…No photos or live video feed,” FOX 2 reported. Wing’s own privacy policy lists “low-resolution overhead photos” among the information the company collects.
Manchester’s Mayor Puts Wing’s First Deliveries There Past 2026
Wing has not yet applied, and Toben said it must file formally and go through Manchester’s review procedure, starting with the Planning and Zoning Commission. The city billed Monday’s presentation as strictly informational, and the Board of Aldermen took no vote on the service.
Wing says its drones carry up to 2.5 pounds (1.1 kilograms) within a six-mile (9.7-kilometer) radius of the store in under five minutes, lowering orders to a lawn or driveway on a tether, KMOX reported. Toben’s reaction, as FOX 2 reported it: “I never thought I’d see a rotisserie chicken fly.”
Walmart and Wing named St. Louis as a 2026 market on January 11, in their 150-store expansion. Wing wants about seven St. Louis-area nests to open at once, and with two months of the year left, the only approval on record is a store in High Ridge, cited in Kirkwood’s September 2 planning report. As of November 4, Wing’s St. Louis web page still offers a waitlist.
A Resident Brought Kirkwood’s Dead Permit to Manchester’s Meeting
Resident Carrie Colombo asked aldermen “why are other communities saying no.” She pointed to Kirkwood, which she said had rejected the program two weeks earlier, and to public opposition in Maplewood. Kirkwood’s City Council let a Walmart and Wing nest permit die without a motion on October 15.
Kirkwood’s own planners had recommended that permit for approval. Privacy was the second-loudest objection there after noise, and one resident asked who keeps the records and pictures of homes as the drones fly over.
Manchester residents get their own turn tonight. Wing staff and city officials host an open house at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 14317 Manchester Road, with a formal presentation, questions and a chance to give feedback, according to the city’s October 24 notice. Wentzville’s Board of Aldermen, which gave its drone delivery zoning bill a first reading on October 21, also meets tonight.
Wing’s Privacy Policy Says Its Cameras Capture Overhead Images
Wing’s global privacy policy says its drones carry low-resolution navigation cameras, used to confirm terrain data and for safety, that capture overhead images when fulfilling deliveries and may incidentally record low-resolution black-and-white images of people or objects in their field of view.
The rest of the quoted line matches Wing’s other public statements. The 2026 presentation deck Wing gave Northglenn, Colorado, which the city posted in its council packet, says Wing built the aircraft with the goal of delivering packages, not taking photographs. It says they carry camera sensors that assist navigation and safety and send no live feed of images to anyone, including the certified pilots supervising flights. In August, Wing told KMOV that the drones use camera sensors only to land and carry no high-definition cameras.
FOX 2’s quote of the Manchester representative contains an ellipsis, so its text does not show whether the navigation cameras came up in the part it left out. The line can also be read as no photo or video feed to anyone, which is how Wing’s deck puts it.
For deliveries ordered directly through Wing, the policy says the company may in limited instances link those images to the customer’s Wing account, to confirm a delivery location and, in rare cases, to identify the people captured in order to enforce Wing’s policies. The policy also covers deliveries ordered through other parties, but that account-linking passage applies only to orders placed directly with Wing, and it does not say whether images from Walmart orders, the kind Manchester would get, are linked to anyone. Its data retention section lists no period for drone images. The word “photos” comes from the policy’s state privacy law disclosures, which list low-resolution overhead photos under visual information, next to profile pictures.
DroneXL’s Take
I’m not worried by a low-resolution, black-and-white navigation camera. As I read it, a drone that lowers a package into a front yard has to see the yard, and Wing’s policy says its cameras confirm terrain and support safety. But the line Manchester’s aldermen heard was simpler than the policy, and as FOX 2 quoted it, I don’t think it survives a reading of a policy that lists low-resolution overhead photos. One of the Kirkwood residents who opposed the nest asked who keeps the pictures of homes. Wing’s policy describes what its cameras capture and stops short of that answer. A company that wants seven St. Louis nests and one reported approval cannot afford to hand opponents a contradiction they can read on its website. Wing should bring the policy to tonight’s open house and answer the two questions it leaves open: how long it keeps the overhead images, and whether Walmart orders get linked to them.
Sources: FOX 2 St. Louis, KMOX, Wing Global Privacy Policy, Wing 101 deck, City of Northglenn council packet, City of Manchester, October 24 notice, City of Manchester, November 2 Board of Aldermen agenda, KMOV First Alert 4, August 5, Wing St. Louis page
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
