The Verge:
Amazon Key relies on Amazon’s new Cloud Cam and compatible smart lock. The camera is the hub, connected to the internet via your home Wi-Fi. The camera talks to the lock over Zigbee, a wireless protocol utilized by many smart home devices.
When a courier arrives with a package for in-home delivery, they scan the barcode, sending a request to Amazon’s cloud. If everything checks out, the cloud grants permission by sending a message back to the camera, which starts recording. The courier then gets a prompt on their app, swipes the screen, and voilà, your door unlocks. They drop off the package, relock the door with another swipe, and are on their way. The customer will get a notification that their delivery has arrived, along with a short video showing the drop-off to confirm everything was done properly.
I get the convenience factor of this (having missed many deliveries due to not being at home) but I can see a lot of people reticent about allowing this kind of internet-connected (and, therefore, hackable) lock on their home. I would much rather a system where the delivery driver calls or texts that they are outside and then you would unlock the door.
Seems like we need something actually new for the next decade, like a built-in secure delivery locker on homes. Good luck getting it everywhere, but still.
Yeah, I think a delivery box makes far more sense. I actually thought about building one on my porch next to the front door just to protect deliveries from rain.
I could see putting an internet-enabled lock on that box, even including a camera recording to something in the house. Putting an expensive lock and camera at risk (but on camera) is reasonable. My entire house is not. 🙂
it’s not even new – some IoT locks offer this kind of thing now with temp keys, etc. The problem with this is that it works for applications where you know people – the dog walker, cleaner, etc. But a delivery driver? Uh… no.
Seems reasonable.
A box that bolts to the wall of your house or apartment lobby? That relies on a service that provides a one-time password to courier and e-lock on the box?
Sounds eminently doable.
Or have things delivered to the UPS store (do Fedex stores allow this?). Or to work.
DHL offers scheduling of deliveries. Saves DHL time and money by not having to reattempt deliveries over several days. Saves the customer from potentially missing the delivery or risking having a package left outside stolen. No “access” required.
Not always convenient. I’ve had large things delivered. I don’t have a car. So picking it up at a UPS Store or the like wouldn’t work.
There’s also a shortage of these things. I remember in the noughts that UPS’s delivery failure location was in Richmond, which is (realistically) an hour and a half away. Why are we paying money for a package to be delivered when it’s still more than an hour away?
Will this be covered in an insurance plan? Will Amazon underwrite this?
Put a sidecar on that bike!
But yeah, it’s not always convenient.
I had UPS do that to me. Claimed they tried to deliver to me in Maple Ridge (they didn’t) and that I could pick it up in Delta – over an hour away.
UPS was really, really bad for this. I remember I was sitting at a kitchen table in my bay window facing the driveway. I think I got up to pee once. In the afternoon I finally checked the door, and they’d ninja’d past me to put a delivery failure note on the door.
This was after I’d paid extra for “overnight” and then the company I’d ordered from had slipped it several days so they could fulfil American orders first.
Do they offer evening delivery?
See, I’m spoiled by having a UPS store a mile away and a Fedex store 3 or 4 miles away.
“…and then you would unlock the door.”
Personally, I like your solution a LOT better. But it also sounds very hackable, though probably not so much.
Not sure, haven’t had an opportunity to use it. But I don’t see why carriers couldn’t offer it. Successful deliveries are better for everyone!
UPS is great when things go right, but they are horrible when things go wrong. I used to ship all my products via UPS, but after getting screwed enough times, everything goes FedEx now.
I’ve had them leave a sign on the office door that they tried to deliver and no one was there — when people had been in the office all day. I’ve also had them claim the thing was left on the porch and I simply hadn’t looked hard enough, and then they actually delivered it the next day.
UPS is so bad here in Canada, when I ask companies to send me review units, I specifically request they not ship via UPS.
Help me out here: “I would much rather a system where the delivery driver calls or texts that they are outside and then you would unlock the door.” – and how exactly would you unlock the door when you’re not at home if not through some “kind of internet-connected (and, therefore, hackable) lock”? 🙂
Several times, I’ve had UPS post delivery-failure notes on our building entrance door during days that at least one person was at home in the apartment.
Our doorbell is visibly marked with our names. Nobody rang it. But I sure rang up the 800 line to tell them about these incidents.
These days, the doorbell usually rings. Our regular guy is on the ball.
No, thanks, Amazon.
No thanks. I wouldn’t trust the carrier, never mind the possibility of hacking.
Well,like, no. Mmmmkay?
This 100%. I won’t order a product from a US store if they ship via UPS. Their ‘brokerage and handling’ fees crossing the border can double the cost of the item. And it’s a random amount every time.
I have an internet connected lock and when someone asked me about hackers, I responded, “OK, some Russian or North Korean hacker unlocks my door from St. Petersburg or Pyongyang and then ….?” Whereas one or two quick kicks to the hinges or breaking the glass next to the door is a much more real concern. Sometimes people freak out about zebras when they should worry about horses.
August lock & video doorbell offers something like this. You can let the delivery person through the door once they ID themselves through the video feed. There is, of course the trust issue…….
Ah for the days of grocery delivery, where the driver would put the perishables in your fridge, and leave the rest on the counter for your return.
Sidecars can’t corner for shit. 🙂
And a car. 🙂
Oh, hackable is a given. 🙂 But “my system” would mean that the door wouldn’t be unlocked without your prior notice. That way, if it gets hacked and someone enters, you’d know via the unexpected notification that it was an unauthorized entry.
In France, where I lived for a long time, there is a standard sized mailbox that everyone is require to have (unless you’re in an apartment building, and there is a place where packages can be left). The majority of packages fit in this box, and the mail carriers and delivery companies all have master keys.
https://www.laposte.fr/particulier/expedition-colissimo/qu-est-ce-que-la-boite-aux-lettres-normalisee
You still need to be home for larger packages, or have them delivered to a place where you can pick them up later, but this solves a lot of problems with packages in general.
Like you’re going to corner with a fridge in it anyway…