Girl Scout Cookies Take Flight With 'Pretty Awesome' Drone Deliveries To Offset Coronavirus Sales Slump

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - The Girl Scouts are reaching for the sky to deliver their popular cookies during the coronavirus pandemic.

Scouts in the town of Christiansburg, Virginia, are using drones to deliver cookies this year to make up for a drop in sales because of COVID-19.

"The biggest challenge for selling cookies this year is the booths" troop leader Joy Fisher says. "A lot of places don't want you to open up a booth because they have the restrictions."

Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline Council partnered with Wing, a subsidiary of Google's corporate parent Alphabet, for help with quick, contact less delivery.

Christiansburg residents can order Samoas, Thin Mints and other varieties of cookies to be delivered by drone through the end of May, with no added fee. Through the Wing app, buyers can choose a drop off location like a front or backyard.

"We are the first council to deliver cookies by drone and that is pretty awesome that we get to be the first council to do that," says Gracie, one of the scouts taking part in the pilot program.

Wing's custom-built drones are able to navigate autonomously — without a human pilot controlling them remotely — and are powered by two forward propellers on their wings and 12 smaller vertical propellers, AP reports. When a drone reaches its destination, it hovers over a lawn and lowers a box holding cookies.

"I mean, how cool is it to be like, you get your cookies delivered by a drone?" scout leader Heather Walker says.