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Hot on the heels of Walmart's plans to deliver groceries directly into the fridges of homes with smart locks, Amazon has announced a similar arrangement for package deliveries, called Amazon Key:
Amazon on Wednesday announced Amazon Key, a new program for Prime members that lets delivery people drop off packages inside of customer homes.
To make Amazon Key possible, Amazon has introduced its own $120 internet-connected security camera called Amazon Cloud Cam. Customers who want to participate in the program need to purchase an accompanying "smart" lock to allow delivery people to enter their home. Combined camera-lock packages start at $250.
With the program Amazon is adding what it thinks is a more convenient option than traditional outside drop-off, while also coming up with one solution to package theft which is rampant in some markets.
The obvious questions are whether people will trust a delivery person to enter their home unattended. Amazon is trying to assuage these fears by alerting customers when a delivery is about to happen to allow them to watch it live via their phone.
This really isn't a big deal. They were delivering to the doorstep previously, and now they want to move the delivery by a couple of feet. There's almost no difference.
Also at The Verge.
Previously: Amazon Wants to Deliver Purchases to Your Car Trunk
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Thursday October 26 2017, @06:51PM (1 child)
The whole Amazon locker thing seems like reinventing the wheel IMO.
When I've got something valuable coming, I generally try to get it shipped UPS. Then, once it ships I get a notification on my phone that will tell me when it's going to arrive, and if I know I probably won't be home I can reroute it at any time until the moment of delivery to have it held at a UPS store or warehouse, free of charge, and just drop in to pick it up on my way home from work. (I could *probably* do that with FedEx too but their goddamn app won't say anything but "try again later" and it's been doing that for YEARS.)
So why doesn't Amazon just make a deal to tie that service into their checkout system? I don't think you can just ship the package to the UPS store unless you pay to rent a mailbox, but once you've got a delivery on the way they'll let you reroute it for free...so you'd think Amazon could cut a deal to get them to directly accept Amazon deliveries, even ones direct from an Amazon warehouse delivered by an Amazon van. And that would instantly give Amazon a nation-wide network of pickup locations no matter how they're sending it.
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Friday October 27 2017, @02:02AM
I think that's basically what they're doing with the Amazon Locker [amazon.com] partnerships they've been setting up with grocery stores. I noticed it appear as an option sometime in late spring, but I'm not sure how long it has been there.