I don't think people should shoot them down, but I do think drone-based delivery will be rejected by consumers if it ever reaches significant scale in non-rural areas which will create a self-limiter on growth of usage.

Its cool if a drone delivers your sandwich. But when the sky is littered with them because they are also delivering random stuff to all of your neighbors it very quickly becomes a lot less cool.

Never mind the fact that its concerning from a safety standpoint that one of the biggest players in the space has just proved (twice) that their drones can't even avoid a very large unmoving object.

"but I do think drone-based delivery will be rejected by consumers if it ever reaches significant scale in non-rural areas"

I'd wager it's the opposite: Rural areas would notice the one off noise of a drone flying overhead because humans notice novel sounds more. In an urban area you already have other significant sources of noise (traffic mainly) and if the drones are ubiquitous it might just be more of a background constant that people tune out.

You're already gonna get screwed by your local government, your homeowners insurer, and all manner of other things on the basis of drone photography. That cat is already out of the bag. At least for the package delivery use case everyday people stand to benefit at least a bit.