It’s a conundrum faced by anyone who has ever ordered something expensive on-line: how do you make sure you’re home when it gets there? How can you be sure the UPS man won’t just leave your shiny new Kindle, or even a box of books, sitting right on your doorstep? (I had that happen to an Amazon package once. It rained that day; one of my books got soaked.) If your employer won’t receive it for you, and you don’t have a friendly neighbor or relative to take care of that for you, what do you do?
Amazon has taken note of the problem, and seems to be applying itself to ways to solve it. In cooperation with 7-11, the company is field-testing a new system around Seattle that seems to be a cross between a post-office box and a Redbox kiosk. It consists of a wall of storage lockers of various sizes, and a keypad and display screen. The idea is that people can request their packages to be sent there instead of their home, then enter an e-mailed code to unlock the locker containing their package. The Seattle test lockers go on-line on Friday.
It’s a pretty clever idea, from both Amazon and 7-11’s perspective. Amazon eliminates a source of reluctance for people to order from it (and makes ordering from it rather than a competitor without a similar service more attractive), and 7-11 gets more people to come in, at least some of whom might buy snacks or drinks while they’re there.
If they get established across the country, these Amazon package drops could give Amazon a significant competitive advantage—even if, in a way, it’s just catching up to stores like Best Buy that let you order goods on-line for in-store pickup. Even if paper books may be on the way out, Amazon still sells plenty of other goods that could benefit from a safe delivery drop—such as Kindles and, soon, Kindle tablets.
It seems, that this is the “Packstation Service” we have overall in Germany from DHL. 🙂 A very good service, I will not miss – even with shipping from Amazon. Helli
An old idea updated. When I lived in a small rural town many years ago, UPS packages were shipped from and to the local drugstore. No lockers, though, just a pile of packages under the counter.