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Amazon Expanding Delivery Locker Service
An anonymous reader writes "The WSJ reports that Amazon's new secret weapon in its fight against other retailers is its delivery locker service. Dropping a package at a customer's door is not particularly secure, so Amazon Lockers were introduced about a year ago to provide a secure location for customers to retrieve their shipments. Now, Amazon is ramping up the service, opening new sites in the San Francisco Bay Area. From the article: 'Users don't pay extra to use the service but the locker program helps Amazon save on certain shipping costs. ShopRunner's Ms. Dias said UPS and FedEx Corp. FDX 0.00% charge retailers as much as 20% more to deliver packages to residential addresses because it is more efficient to deliver multiple packages to a business address. Failed deliveries are also more expensive for online retailers because those consumers are more likely to call customer service, switch to a competitor, or get a replacement item.'"
In Germany we have a similar but general system called "Packstation" (package station). Everybody can get an access code and everybody and every company can send a package to any Packstation in the country (there's one for every 50.000 to 100.000 people). You can get automated round-the-clock access via electronic card and a pin-code.
You can also drop off packages. You get an email and sms when a package for you arrived. All in all, pretty nifty system.
And it doesn't cost a cent more than having it delivered to your house.
Luckily I've never had a problem with stoop theft though.
That's because they're heavy and generally have little resale value.
Uh... nice... I'd just as soon see FedEX and UPS do something similar.
You can have any FedEx delivery being shipped to your home held at the nearest FedEx-Kinko's location for pickup.