This is similar to what FedEx does with packages that can't be delivered. You can have it redirected at no charge to the nearest FedEx Office (formerly Kinko's) location and you can pick it up when it's convenient. It's like having a UPS Store box without having to pay the monthly fee.
A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven
11–20 of 100 posts
Re: A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven
#12 When the package is actually delivered, the
customer receives an email notification along with
a bar code to his smartphone and heads to the
7-Eleven. There he’ll stand in front of the
locker system, which looks like the offspring
between an ATM machine and a safety deposit box.
The machine will scan the bar code on his handset
to receive a PIN number. He’ll punch that PIN
number and retrieve the package.
Why doesn't it just give me my package when it scans the bar code? The PIN doesn't seem to add any security.
I supposed the PIN could be an artifact of the implementation, rather than a security measure. For the prototype it might have been easier and cheaper just to use some stock keypad-based lockbox, and so they have to tell you the PIN, rather than to do some custom engineering to hook the locking system straight up to the barcode system.
Re: A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven
#13This is similar to what FedEx does with packages that can't be delivered. You can have it redirected at no charge to the nearest FedEx Office (formerly Kinko's) location and you can pick it up when it's convenient. It's like having a UPS Store box without having to pay the monthly fee.
In my experience, FedEx often redirects packages that CAN be delivered, too.
Re: A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven
#14A better system might be farming out the delivery to a special service that sends a package at any hour of any day. Amazon gives the package to this agency for a fee and they will deliver it to any gps coordinate at any time (but someone has to sign for it).
Re: A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven
#15Amazon already has these up and running in Japan. Amazon Help Article (JP): http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId... Google Translate: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ja&tl=en&js...
Yes, and it has been running for several years now. Very handy.
In Japan, the customer doesn't have to mess with any lockers. In the convenience store (Lawson instead of 7 Eleven) there's an electronic terminal used for buying tickets, pre-paid cards, etc. The customer inputs the order code and key into that terminal to print a ticket. Then they hand it to the clerk who picks up the package from the storage.
Re: A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven
#16When the package is actually delivered, the customer receives an email notification along with a bar code to his smartphone and heads to the 7-Eleven. There he’ll stand in front of the locker system, which looks like the offspring between an ATM machine and a safety deposit box. The machine will scan the bar code on his handset to receive a PIN number. He’ll punch that PIN number and retrieve the package. I don't und…
This irked me as well, and as usual when some small technical detail irks me in an article, an HN commenter has already made the complaint...
I might just chalk this one up to bad reporting instead of needless redundancy in the implementation.
Re: A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven
#17When the package is actually delivered, the customer receives an email notification along with a bar code to his smartphone and heads to the 7-Eleven. There he’ll stand in front of the locker system, which looks like the offspring between an ATM machine and a safety deposit box. The machine will scan the bar code on his handset to receive a PIN number. He’ll punch that PIN number and retrieve the package. I don't und…
Maybe they didn't feel safe wiring the mechanism that physically opens the doors up to a network. If you can't access that system via the network then you definitely can't exploit it. It's the old "the only secure system is a disconnected one" mantra.
They can focus all their efforts protecting the other end.
Re: A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven
#18When the package is actually delivered, the customer receives an email notification along with a bar code to his smartphone and heads to the 7-Eleven. There he’ll stand in front of the locker system, which looks like the offspring between an ATM machine and a safety deposit box. The machine will scan the bar code on his handset to receive a PIN number. He’ll punch that PIN number and retrieve the package. I don't und…
Proper Security: Something you have and something you know.
Re: A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven
#19This seems like a no brainer, especially partnering with a ubiquitous local retailer.
I am rarely home when the majority of the packages I order actually arrive in my city. If they were to send me an email asking me if I'll be home on the scheduled day of delivery, I'd be more than happy to let them know I'm not, to save them the trip of trying to deliver to me when I know I won't be home. This has always seemed like a major inefficiency in the courier system that I've always thought they would have eliminated. I just can't imagine that I am an outlier, do most other homes usually have someone home so its not worth sending out an email to check? Can anyone comment on this? I think about this problem every time I receive a package, it seems like such an obvious problem easily solved by technology.
Re: A new locker system from Amazon sends your deliveries to 7-Eleven
#20They could do the same for big employers too - Microsoft, Google, Boeing, etc. You could get a notification that you can pick up your delivery after work in a locker on location - all without inconveniencing a receptionist.