Amazon let my cat out, kitty come home. The nerds that came up with this idea are just a little less insane than the people that would be okay with it.
Amazon's aim is to be the biggest monopoly in the word, move over ad sale search engine Google, forget about the spy tool we call Facebook, Amazon wants to sell you every product and service leaving no room for competition, I guess than smile logo has fooled millions already.
Personally, I might be okay with it if they were actual employees of a company, but the delivery people are just random men or women who happen to need a low-paying, dead-end means of making income.
Would be curious to see results for the same survey in two years. This is how it will go with some people...
1. I would never allow the delivery person to enter my home. 2. Oh crap, the new TV I need for the Super Bowl is coming on Friday and it's supposed to rain. Plus I don't want that big box sitting on my porch until we get home from work. 3. I already have one of those smart lock thingies, maybe I'll try that Amazon Key service. Just this one time. 4. That went well, I'll have them put the groceries in the house too. Don't want them to sit outside in the heat all day. 5. Have you tried Amazon Key? It's really convenient.
Yep. That's how this goes.
Instead of this, Amazon might think about other obvious things: like maybe having preferred neighbors that can all agree to accept deliveries for each other. Yes, you need to trust your neighbors. Maybe not a bad thing to contemplate. It's an ice breaker, and hey, maybe you recruit a neighbor into a prime membership. Should be worth something to Amazon, no?
I've contemplated installing a lockable jobbox on my porch. I don't get 55" TVs very often, but get other things that would fit. I could toss some blue ice packs in if I expect groceries.
My house has an outside covered foyer, with a full-height gate. I'd be okay with it as they only have access to enter my gate, and not the interior of my house. Many homes don't have that option.
As far as entering my house, no way in hell would I ever allow anyone in there without my presence. All it takes is one incident and this entire service would crash and burn. So long as humans are involved in the circle, the opportunity is there for a rogue employee. I will not be that victim.
I'd love to see if Bezos would allow that service at his own residence.
Just like 5 years ago a survey would have shown the majority of people saying "no way" to getting into a car with a stranger instead of using a taxi, and 'get the F out' to renting out someone's apartment or letting strangers into yours. This will all change once the 32% start gushing about how they couldn't live without it now
Yes. This is exactly how Google, Facebook, Amazon and their ilk have slowly boiled the American frog into accepting cultural norms of much, much lower privacy and security.
It is amazing how the same people who fiercely oppose government intrusions on privacy gladly surrender their intimate personal information to corporations who have far, far less legal and moral accountability and who have publicly admitted that they make money by selling information about you to the highest bidder, including hostile foreign governments.
I'd love to see if Bezos would allow that service at his own residence.
I'll bet he has a house with nothing in it that he uses specifically to be able to say yes to this. Full of security monitoring equipment. He then has a staff that fetches things from it, and brings it to him.
Honestly, you think billionaires live by the same rules anyone else does?
I am part of the group that would be fine with this. We already let several vendors in our house for delivery of goods and services. We also do not lock our house. Good to be in small town USA. If I was in a city it would be a tough sell.
I am a fellow small-city dweller (9,000) and that relative safety obviates the need for inside delivery. I've had guitars and a TV on my porch for hours without them being taken.
It's clearly not aimed at everyone and there are issues, but as a service, I see it as just another one to add to the list. Personally I prefer Amazon Locker. I have one just 5 min from home and I live in the sticks so I imagine they are widespread.
Personally, I might be okay with it if they were actual employees of a company, but the delivery people are just random men or women who happen to need a low-paying, dead-end means of making income.
I totally understand why Amazon wants to do this. Porch Pirates are the bane of Amazon's business model. If people lose confidence in Amazon's ability to safely deliver expensive/sensitive packages to their home Amazon will suffer. Signing for packages raises the inconvenience factor for customers and reduces Amazon's efficiency.
All is not lost. I might suggest that this is a problem that can be addressed in a similar fashion to Uber and AirBnb. There's no reason why individuals who stay at home or permanently work from home cannot be vetted, trained, and contractually empowered (licensed?) to serve as registered "secure drop-off sites" at a neighborhood level. These people could be used to receive and hold packages for their neighbors who know in advance that they will not be at home to receive a delivery. The security measures that Amazon is proposing with their key service, like video logging and tracking, could still be employed, but at a neighborhood drop-off site level rather than every individual's home. Of course the drop-off people would have to be paid for their service and maintain a clearly defined range of business hours. Of course there could be added fees for excessive hold times and way off-hours pickups, but not a big deal. This might be a way to get some otherwise idle people back into the workforce and it seems reasonable that Amazon (and possibly other delivery services) would cost-share the service fees.
I'd love to see if Bezos would allow that service at his own residence.
I'll bet he has a house with nothing in it that he uses specifically to be able to say yes to this. Full of security monitoring equipment. He then has a staff that fetches things from it, and brings it to him.
Honestly, you think billionaires live by the same rules anyone else does?
I totally understand why Amazon wants to do this. Porch Pirates are the bane of Amazon's business model. If people lose confidence in Amazon's ability to safely deliver expensive/sensitive packages to their home Amazon will suffer. Signing for packages raises the inconvenience factor for customers and reduces Amazon's efficiency.
All is not lost. I might suggest that this is a problem that can be addressed in a similar fashion to Uber and AirBnb. There's no reason why individuals who stay at home or permanently work from home cannot be vetted, trained, and contractually empowered (licensed?) to serve as registered "secure drop-off sites" at a neighborhood level. These people could be used to receive and hold packages for their neighbors who know in advance that they will not be at home to receive a delivery. The security measures that Amazon is proposing with their key service, like video logging and tracking, could still be employed, but at a neighborhood drop-off site level rather than every individual's home. Of course the drop-off people would have to be paid for their service and maintain a clearly defined range of business hours. Of course there could be added fees for excessive hold times and way off-hours pickups, but not a big deal. This might be a way to get some otherwise idle people back into the workforce and it seems reasonable that Amazon (and possibly other delivery services) would cost-share the service fees.
Think of it as an AirBnb for packages.
To a point, this already exists, at least where I live. Some local shops act as drop off/pick up points for Amazon as do local post offices and you have the Amazon Lockers for out of office hours pick up.
There was also a time when people were unwilling to make online purchases yet it's commonplace now. I wonder if Amazon based their decisions on what polls said back then where they'd be now...
I have no problem with this. You're required to have a camera so this will show if they really entered your place, and if anything goes wrong I trust them to make good.
I trust the delivery drivers more than the local homeless guys who walk around my neighborhood stealing everyone's packages off their doorsteps.
So someone comes in, drops your package off and it looks like they did nothing wrong. Then later they tell a friend that no one was home at such at such time. the delivery driver happen to see this and that, and then a week later you're robbed. The driver gets a piece of the action!!!
Comments
Amazon's aim is to be the biggest monopoly in the word, move over ad sale search engine Google, forget about the spy tool we call Facebook, Amazon wants to sell you every product and service leaving no room for competition, I guess than smile logo has fooled millions already.
Instead of this, Amazon might think about other obvious things: like maybe having preferred neighbors that can all agree to accept deliveries for each other. Yes, you need to trust your neighbors. Maybe not a bad thing to contemplate. It's an ice breaker, and hey, maybe you recruit a neighbor into a prime membership. Should be worth something to Amazon, no?
I've contemplated installing a lockable jobbox on my porch. I don't get 55" TVs very often, but get other things that would fit. I could toss some blue ice packs in if I expect groceries.
I'd love to see if Bezos would allow that service at his own residence.
It is amazing how the same people who fiercely oppose government intrusions on privacy gladly surrender their intimate personal information to corporations who have far, far less legal and moral accountability and who have publicly admitted that they make money by selling information about you to the highest bidder, including hostile foreign governments.
Honestly, you think billionaires live by the same rules anyone else does?
I am a fellow small-city dweller (9,000) and that relative safety obviates the need for inside delivery. I've had guitars and a TV on my porch for hours without them being taken.
All is not lost. I might suggest that this is a problem that can be addressed in a similar fashion to Uber and AirBnb. There's no reason why individuals who stay at home or permanently work from home cannot be vetted, trained, and contractually empowered (licensed?) to serve as registered "secure drop-off sites" at a neighborhood level. These people could be used to receive and hold packages for their neighbors who know in advance that they will not be at home to receive a delivery. The security measures that Amazon is proposing with their key service, like video logging and tracking, could still be employed, but at a neighborhood drop-off site level rather than every individual's home. Of course the drop-off people would have to be paid for their service and maintain a clearly defined range of business hours. Of course there could be added fees for excessive hold times and way off-hours pickups, but not a big deal. This might be a way to get some otherwise idle people back into the workforce and it seems reasonable that Amazon (and possibly other delivery services) would cost-share the service fees.
Think of it as an AirBnb for packages.
Well, Warren Buffet aside...
I trust the delivery drivers more than the local homeless guys who walk around my neighborhood stealing everyone's packages off their doorsteps.