June 14, 2022 / 7:05 PM / CBS San Francisco

LOCKEFORD (KPIX) -- After years of development, Amazon announced it will finally begin delivering products by drone in the small San Joaquin County town of Lockeford, and residents there are only beginning to imagine the future.

Call it a pilot program without the pilot. Amazon Prime Air will soon begin autonomous delivery of packages, up to 5 pounds, to people's backyards using a large 5-foot-diameter drone.  It will be in Lockeford, population 3,200, that the future will begin.  

"I don't know, to be the start of something is really interesting," said Shavone Veverett.  The owner of the Rock and Rollers Salon seemed pleased with Lockeford's sudden notoriety.

"We're such a small town, not a lot happens out here so this will probably be the biggest, or loudest our name is, for a minute," she said, laughing.

Before Amazon, the town's claim to fame was Lockeford Meats, where people stand in long lines to buy dozens of different styles of handmade sausage.  Owner Pete Pettersen doesn't see a day when his products will be delivered by drone.

"You can't drop some sausage in a guy's backyard, and he gets home six hours later and it's pre-cooked by the sun," he said.  "Yeah, the dog gets it, somebody gets it...a raccoon, maybe."

No one in town seems to know why Lockeford was chosen. In a press release, Amazon mentions a guy who built biplanes there back in the early 1900's. 

But Pettersen thinks they may simply want to give their current drivers a break from the perils of rural deliveries.

"They don't have to worry about the driver getting bit by a dog or a horse kicking him or something, you know, or a cow jumping on him," he said.

But most think it's just because, aside from the water tower, there isn't a whole lot of stuff to crash into. But Walmart just launched its own drone delivery service and resident Robert Ramos, who is a former commercial pilot, thinks the skies could get pretty crazy.

"Let's say 1,000 families in this town ordered something at the same time. How are you going to direct the traffic? How are you going to keep one from hitting the other?" he said.

Most people In Lockeford aren't against the idea -- they're just not sure what to expect. Some are concerned about noise or invasion of privacy. 

And if you ask the local kids like 12-year-old Rileigh Dovak, it really gets weird.

"It's gonna feel like a movie. I'm just gonna look up in the sky and there's gonna be, like, 80 drones in the air with packages," said Rileigh. "And you could probably carry a kid on that. They switch the package for a kid and you just get a kid at your front door."

Conspiracy theories aside, Amazon says it just wants to increase the speed of its deliveries. They just happen to be starting in a place where life already moves a little slower.

John Ramos accidentally launched a lifelong career in journalism when he began drawing editorial cartoons and writing smart-alecky satire pieces for the Bakersfield High School newspaper.

First published on June 14, 2022 / 7:05 PM

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©2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.