'Never Miss Another Delivery' - if You Have a TrackPIN (Video)

The company is called TrackPIN, as is the product. Its creator, Mark Hall, showed it off at CES. Timothy pointed his camcorder at Mark as he explained how his product would let you get package deliveries safely when you aren't home by giving the UPS or FedEx (or other) delivery person access to your garage, as well as letting in selected people like your maid, your plumber, and possibly an aquarium cleaner. Each one can have a private, one-time PIN number that will actuate your garage door opener through the (~$250) TrackPIN keypad and tell your smartphone or other net-connected device that your garage was just opened, and by whom. You might even call this, "One small step for package delivery; a giant leap forward for the Internet of Things." Except those of us who don't have garages (not to mention electric garage door openers) may want to skip today's video; the TrackPIN isn't meant for the likes of us. (Alternate Video Link)

Comments

Solves a different problem I'm not sure exists?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have been home when delivery services have claimed to have attempted delivery

There's no fix for incompetence

Re:Solves a different problem I'm not sure exists?

[green1]

Exactly this. I can't get delivery companies to do more than sprint to the door, hang a card and sprint back to their trucks. You pretty much have to be standing on your front lawn and tackle the guy to actually get your package. If you wait for a knock or the bell to ring it's too late.

I'd actually prefer if they wouldn't even bother sending my package out for delivery, if I got an email notification when it hit their depot (like I already do) I could drive straight there and pick up my package a day earlier, as it is I have to wait for them to "attempt delivery" and only after that can I drive to that same depot and pick it up myself. Loading the package on to the truck when the guy has no intention of carrying it to your door (yes, this is common!) is a ridiculous waste of everyone's time.

Re:Solves a different problem I'm not sure exists?

[DexterIsADog]

Yeah, that's pretty funny. UPS does an excellent job for me. So does FedEx. I only had one problem with a package in the last 10 years, out of the hundred or so deliveries I've had to my home, and that was when someone stole my gaming rig out of the UPS warehouse. Which had nothing to do with delivery.

Maybe they just don't like you?

Re:Solves a different problem I'm not sure exists?

[ShanghaiBill]

I have a lock box on my porch, that locks when it closes, and requires a key to open. I leave the lid propped open, and when UPS/FedEx/USPS delivers a package, they put it inside and close the lid. It cost a lot less than a $250 TrackPIN. The drawbacks are it doesn't work with packages bigger than the lockbox (18"x18"x30"), or if I get multiple packages on the same day. But 95% of the time, it works fine.

Re:Solves a different problem I'm not sure exists?

[stephanruby]

Exactly this. I can't get delivery companies to do more than sprint to the door, hang a card and sprint back to their trucks. You pretty much have to be standing on your front lawn and tackle the guy to actually get your package. If you wait for a knock or the bell to ring it's too late.

That's only because you don't have a fresh pot of coffee and a plate of freshly baked cookies waiting for your delivery person. If receiving/sending packages is even slightly important to you, you have to start treating your delivery person like Santa Claus once in a while.

After all, why do you think he doesn't take the extra twenty seconds it requires to actually deliver your package? It's probably because he has to make up for the lost twenty minutes he already spent drinking coffee and eating cookies at my place.

And let someone into my garage?

[Nutria]

Two thoughts:

1) How do you get the one-time TrackPIN to the UPS guy before the fact?

2) Way back when the milkman delivered his eponymous product, there was a small "airlock" built into many houses, with doors open both to the outside and the in. Some sort of mechanism could be developed so as to deliver the package from the airlock to the house.

delivery people will never do it

[alen]

they have about a second to drop off a package unless it needs a signature. they aren't going to open and close your garage and their employer won't allow them to take on the liability of having the door left open

Yipee

[Anonymous Coward]

A paid advertisement disguised as a news story, this stuff matters.

Cheaper solutions exist.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

A large box, anchored to the ground or fixed to the wall. It has a spring loaded button to lock, but requires a regular key to open.

Or a pet door or a cut-out door in the garage door. Works same way, can be locked without a key, but needs a key to open.

Far less complex, as reliable, and added bonus: The body you have hidden in the freezer in the garage would not be accidentally discovered by the deliveryman. (Note to self. Should cut down on watching Investigation Discovery shows.)

Not in Canada

[phorm]

Where the government is phasing out home mail delivery in favour of "Community Mailboxes"... so now I have to go to the big box in order to collect my frequent junk-mail and occasional important stuff.

Necessary?

[OldSport]

Seriously, with stuff like this, the whole "Internet of Things," and whatnot, I feel like it's every day that I see some new product or service blaring about how awesome and convenient it is. Except we're at the point, in our relatively advanced and spoiled society, where there is very little that is so damned inconvenient that it requires a tech-based solution. "Convenience saturation" or something like that.

Oh, and if Slashdot is going to be advertising shit, at least advertise breakthrough products. This is a "meh" at best on the "gobsmacking tech inventions" scale.

No thank you. One time PIN?

[jpellino]

One time is all that's needed for someone's friend to stay behind and clean out your house.