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IndependentsFeb 06, 2016
Chicago-Area Jeweler Delivers Using a Drone
Distinctive Gold Jewelry in Frankfort, Ill. recently surprised a longtime customer by lowering a Concord watch onto her front lawn.
Frankfort, Ill.--Ever since the notion of delivering goods via drone hit the news, jeweler Tony D’Ortenzio wanted to get in on the action.
His dream was to give one couple a memorable engagement by flying the ring in mid-proposal.
D’Ortenzio owns Distinctive Gold Jewelry (known as DGJ) with his brother Joe. The store, which has been in the family for more than 40 years, has had three Chicagoland locations and now is in Frankfort, a southwest suburb.
The store’s inaugural drone delivery took place earlier this fall, on Sept. 23, but the planning began months before that.
In late spring, DGJ sales associate Lisa Karlstedt, who has worked at the store for 25 years, identified someone she thought would like the idea of giving a gift by drone, a longtime customer named Rob.
Rob and his wife Paula have purchased quite a bit of jewelry from DGJ over the years. What’s more, Rob, who works as an accountant, has a keen interest in technology and likes doing things that are fun and different for his wife.
Karlstedt said he was into the idea from the start, and they knew then that the drone delivery would take place either for their anniversary or her birthday, both of which are in September.
D’Ortenzio, meanwhile, was doing what any smart retailer who has a drone dream would do--hunt for a local vendor to help him execute something that is out of his area of expertise.
Not surprisingly, he found what he was looking for on Facebook, a local man named David Ho who owns Aerial Photo of Illinois, a company that deploys drones to take pictures for the real estate market. Ho is not only experienced in operating drones, but has FAA approval to do so commercially.
D’Ortenzio said he called Ho in to take an aerial photograph of the store, then popped the
question: Could he fly a piece of jewelry from the store to a house about two miles away via drone?
Ho consented, and D’Ortenzio was one step closer to executing his long-sought-after special delivery.
Delivery Day
The delivery was done via manned drone, meaning Ho and his wife and D’Ortenzio and Karlstedt followed it in two separate cars to make sure it didn’t get tangled in the town’s power lines along the way. Ho was in the lead car, operating the drone with a remote control.
WATCH: The watch’s journey via video shot by the drone
Karlstedt said tensions were high as their white sedan wove its way through the streets to Rob and Paula’s house.
About 250 feet above them, a $10,000 18-karat white gold Concord watch with a diamond-set mother-of-pearl dial was flying through the air sans insurance. She said there isn’t really coverage for drone delivery that they are aware of, so “We knew when we figured out that we were going to fly a piece of jewelry from our store to their house, we were going to be responsible for it. And it was way up there, let me tell you.”
Luckily, the weather cooperated and there were no hang-ups along the way, literally.
WATCH: “This is the weirdest thing you’ve ever done, Rob.”
When the drone landed, or, rather, hovered, and Paula pulled down her anniversary gift, everybody was pleased and relieved. “It was the perfect day, the perfect moment for the perfect customer,” D’Ortenzio said.
He said the special delivery, which the store 100 percent paid for, cost him about $350 out of pocket. That’s expensive as deliveries go but worth it--not only were his longtime customers happy, but the drone delivery netted them coverage in local newspapers and on social media.
While there likely won’t be any more aerial deliveries from DGJ in the near future as the Chicago winter sets in, D’Ortenzio hopes to take flight again. Next time, he’d like to drop in with an engagement ring, which is what he originally wanted to deliver.
“I still want to do the engagement one,” he said. “I just think that would be so memorable.”
Karlstedt agreed.
“We would love to do this for an engagement sale. Imagine getting proposed to and having a ring come out of the sky. That would be so cool.”
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