Walmart and Wing promised drone delivery at 100 more stores by June 2026. We count 20 named in launches so far.

Previously

In June 2025, Walmart and Wing said they'd bring drone delivery to 100 more Walmart stores in Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando and Tampa "by this time next year." Every figure came from the two companies (Part 1).

CHARLOTTE, N.C., October 2026 — Drone delivery from Walmart has now reached Charlotte, four months after the deadline the companies set themselves. Here's what changed since Part 1 (June 2025), what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of October 2026)

New-metro stores named at launch: 20: Atlanta 6, Houston 5, Orlando 2, Charlotte 7. Our tally. (Wing, Atlanta; Wing, Houston; Wing, Orlando; Charlotte Observer)
New target: over 270 locations in 2027. (Wing)
Deliveries: "well over one million" commercial deliveries, Wing said in June. (Wing)
Customers with access: "more than three million," Wing says. (Wing)
Price: $19.99 per delivery for non-members, free for a limited time in Charlotte. (Charlotte Observer)
Total live store count: Not disclosed.

The launches

Atlanta went first, on Dec. 3, 2025, from six stores in Woodstock, Conyers, Dallas, Hiram, McDonough and Loganville. Wing's release still said the expansion would reach "100 additional Walmart stores across the U.S. by 2026." Houston followed on Jan. 15, 2026, from five stores in Houston, Katy, Crosby and Kemah.

Greater Orlando launched July 29 from two stores, in Apopka and Clermont. Wing said they serve "well over 50,000 homes" and named three more sites to follow: Ocoee, a second Clermont store and Haines City.

Charlotte launched on Wednesday, Oct. 21, WBTV reported, from seven stores: Charlotte's Galleria Boulevard store plus Concord, Gastonia, Kannapolis, Kings Mountain, Lincolnton and Shelby, per the Charlotte Observer. Two more Charlotte stores are coming soon. The Observer said the Galleria Boulevard store's drone "nest" has 12 charging pads, and that the drones have a one-way range of about 6 miles. It quoted Tom Kuhn, Wing's head of communications. Walmart's site lists a $19.99 delivery fee for customers without a Walmart+ membership, the paper reported, though Charlotte deliveries are free for a limited time.

No Tampa launch has been announced. Our tally covers the five new metros only. It doesn't include any stores added in Dallas-Fort Worth, which Wing's June 2025 release promised alongside the 100 but never announced store by store, and Orlando's three follow-on sites may since have opened without an announcement.

The target moved

On Jan. 11, 2026, Wing announced "an additional 150 Walmart stores over the next year" and "a network of over 270 drone delivery locations in 2027," reaching more than 40 million Americans. It added Los Angeles, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Miami. In June, Wing named seven more markets: Memphis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area and Salt Lake City. On Oct. 5 it added Denver and Seattle for 2027.

What's changed

Demand looks real, by Wing's account. It said its top 25% of customers ordered three times a week, and that deliveries in the second half of 2025 were three times those in the first half. Over the World Cup, it said it made nearly a thousand deliveries inside temporary flight restriction zones in Dallas and Charlotte between June 16 and July 15. Those are the no-fly areas set up around big events. That means Wing was already flying in Charlotte months before the Walmart launch; the post doesn't say which retailers those orders came from.

Wing says it is an "authorized Part 135 Air carrier," the FAA certification for on-demand and commuter operators.

The drones may be changing too. In July, Wing said its aircraft fly at 150 to 200 feet, up to 60 mph, with a 2.5-pound payload and plans for 5 pounds. On Oct. 5, it said its aircraft carry up to 5 pounds. The Charlotte Observer's Oct. 21 report still gave a payload of about 2.5 pounds, so it isn't clear which aircraft fly where.

What hasn't changed is the reporting gap noted in Part 1. Wing gives totals across all its sites: "well over one million" deliveries and more than three million customers with access. It doesn't break those out by store or metro.

What went wrong

The deadline slipped. Two of the five metros launched after June 2026, and Tampa hasn't launched.
The count is ours, not theirs. Wing hasn't published a live store total, so the gap from 100 can't be measured exactly.
The goalposts moved. The 100-store promise became 270-plus "in 2027."
What we don't know yet: how many stores are live, deliveries per store, and what a drone delivery costs Walmart.

Our follow-up question for Wing

How many Walmart stores are delivering by drone today, and when does Tampa launch?

Sources

Wing, “Wing and Walmart launch Metro Atlanta's first drone delivery service in time for the holidays,” Dec. 3, 2025. wing.com
Wing, “Wing and Walmart expand drone delivery to 150 new stores coast to coast,” Jan. 11, 2026. wing.com
Wing, “Greater Houston kicks off Walmart and Wing's biggest expansion year yet,” Jan. 15, 2026. wing.com
Wing, “Wing and Walmart name seven new markets for drone delivery service,” June 8, 2026. wing.com
Wing, “Wing and Walmart bring the power of the nation's largest drone delivery network to Florida,” July 29, 2026. wing.com
Wing, “Delivering throughout the tournament,” Aug. 7, 2026. wing.com
Wing, “Wing and Walmart name new metros to expand the nation's largest drone delivery network,” Oct. 5, 2026. wing.com
Catherine Muccigrosso, Charlotte Observer, “Walmart rolls out drone deliveries across Charlotte: No red light 'in the sky',” Oct. 21, 2026. charlotteobserver.com
eCFR, Title 14, Part 135, “Operating requirements: commuter and on demand operations and rules governing persons on board such aircraft.” ecfr.gov
Luke Tucker, WBTV, “Walmart launches drone-delivery service in Charlotte area: What to know,” Oct. 23, 2026. wbtv.com
Earlier in this series: Part 1. /case/walmart-wing-drones-100-stores

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder