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A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven

thedaily.com

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Re: A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven

#4

Post by aaronbrethorst »

rajat wrote: post #3

How soon before state governments start claiming that these lockers are a physical presence of Amazon's retail operations?

Well, apparently the only one in existence is in Seattle (about eight blocks away from me, as it works out).

My guess is that the answer to "how soon" would be 'the second one of these boxes appears in a state where Amazon does not yet collect sales tax.'

That said, I'm guessing that Amazon's lawyers would argue that this is effectively identical to a P.O. box, and therefore totally exempted. At least, that's what I'd argue.

edit: or not owned by Amazon at all. Good call.

Re: A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven

#5

Post by waterlesscloud »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #4
rajat wrote: post #3

How soon before state governments start claiming that these lockers are a physical presence of Amazon's retail operations?

Well, apparently the only one in existence is in Seattle (about eight blocks away from me, as it works out). My guess is that the answer to "how soon" would be 'the second one of these boxes appears in a state where Amazon does not yet collect sales tax.' That said, I'm guessing that Amazon's lawyers would argue that this is effectively identical to a P.O. box, and therefore totally exempted. At least, that's what I'…

Or the boxes are owned by a company which is not Amazon.

Make it a joint venture with UPS and use it for all kinds of deliveries and win.

Re: A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven

#6

Post by Adaptive »

larsberg wrote: post #2

Lucky Dragon Nanofax! Darnit, now I have to re-read the Idoru chain of Gibson books again...

This was absolutely the first thing I thought of the moment I read the headline.

I very much want to believe that someone at Amazon had a brainstorm after that book.

Re: A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven

#8

Post by dkrich »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #5
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, apparently the only one in existence is in Seattle (about eight blocks away from me, as it works out). My guess is that the answer to "how soon" would be 'the second one of these boxes appears in a state where Amazon does not yet collect sales tax.' That said, I'm guessing that Amazon's lawyers would argue that this is effectively identical to a P.O. box, and therefore totally exempted. At least, that's what I'…

Or the boxes are owned by a company which is not Amazon. Make it a joint venture with UPS and use it for all kinds of deliveries and win.

Yeah, but the law is always murky about what constitutes a "physical presence," and the interpretations vary from state to state. I'm fairly certain that if they started springing up all over the US, there would be a lot of debate about whether a sales tax was required.

In any case, there's no way Amazon would keep these around if they alone necessitated a sales tax, since the trade-off would be too great.

Re: A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven

#9

Post by SwellJoe »

I love this idea. I travel full-time, and have no permanent residence. Amazon Prime has been a godsend...but, even that only works when I'm staying somewhere long enough to get something shipped in (I upgrade to overnight for $3.95 per item quite often), and in a place where I can have something delivered. Fedex and UPS do not yet accept GPS coordinates as a destination for delivery (my motorhome is often parked off the grid in the desert or mountains on public land). The ability to ship something to a 7-Eleven in the nearest town or along my planned route is just too wonderful to express.

I recently had to buy a new phone, somewhat urgently since my phone is my GPS/map/Internet/etc. and I'm lost without it, and was trying to figure out how to get one shipped in quickly. The one I wanted at the price I wanted to pay was not available with Amazon Prime shipping, so it was going to cost $40 to overnight it, in addition to the hassle of having to be in a specific location with a fixed address through the weekend and into next week. Luckily, a T-Mobile store had it for the same price, so I got it same day for only a few bucks more (because of sales tax)...but that's usually not the case. Had I needed an unlocked phone, or needed something not widely available, it would have been an ordeal.

In short, I don't know how many normal people are going to use this service, but I am going to use the hell out of it as soon as it is widely available.

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