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Most Amazon Prime Subscribers Say They Don't Want To Buy the Amazon Key That Lets Delivery People Into Their Homes (recode.net)
A reader shares a report: Next week, Amazon will start delivering packages straight into Americans' homes, using a smart lock and camera device called Amazon Key. But will anyone bother paying for what seems like an invasive service? Most wouldn't. About 58 percent of people who have Amazon Prime definitely would not buy Amazon Key, according to a SurveyMonkey poll done on behalf of Recode. That's only slightly less than the 61 percent of all U.S. adults who wouldn't buy the product, suggesting it's broadly unattractive, regardless of whether people are Amazon customers. Among Prime subscribers, only 5 percent said they would definitely buy Amazon Key. Of all U.S. shoppers, even less -- 4 percent -- said they would. Nearly 60 percent of the respondents have Prime subscriptions.
Just wait until this fucking thing is cracked. Amazon stock will drop 150 points in a day.
Remember when the police were paying Best Buy employees to inform on Geek Squad customers? I think that history shows there is no way you can grant low-lever worker bees unfettered ability to invade your privacy. Even NSA contractors who are relatively well paid, vetted, and know they're monitored can't resist the urge to abuse their power for personal benefit even when it's as petty as a few cheap laughs.
None of this prevents the Amazon delivery guy from telling his buddies which houses have good stuff to steal. Thieves can come back months later without any connection to Amazon whatsoever. Sure they could throw a brick through a window on any house but why risk attracting them to yours?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
The service is setup so Amazon unlocks the doors, the delivery person puts your package down just inside the door, and he closes the door. All on camera. If he goes off camera, he's fired. It's really that simple.
Yes, because the threat of job lose always keeps people from doing stupid things. If the person comes in your house destroys something and leaves, sure he'll be fired. Amazon will mostly likely pay out for you also. You are still left with the effects though. The threat of jail doesn't keep people from committing crimes. The threat of job lose doesn't keep someone from cracking for a moment and doing something stupid. I prefer that if they do crack that it not be in my home.
Sent from my TARDIS
I'm actually kinda surprised Amazon didn't see this one coming?
I mean, they're not generally stupid.....Do all the people at Amazon working on this "solution" freely admit strangers into their homes when they are away?
If 5% of Amazon Prime members buy this Amazon Key- that's still 4.25 million users in the US alone (estimated 85million Prime Owners). I think they will make a profit off this. I personally wouldn't sign up for it, but sounds like this will be profitable to Amazon.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
None of this prevents the Amazon delivery guy from telling his buddies which houses have good stuff to steal. Thieves can come back months later without any connection to Amazon whatsoever. Sure they could throw a brick through a window on any house but why risk attracting them to yours?
The thieves already know by your house and the car you drive.
If you drive a beat up Hyundai parked on the street in front of your apartment, you probably don't have much worth stealing. If you have a BMW and Tesla parked in the drive way, chances are good that they'll be able to find something of value.
But there's still value in your buddy tipping you off about which houses use this service, because all of them are guaranteed to have at least one Amazon cloud camera watching the house since that's a requirement of the service.
Just out of idle curiosity...
Are you serious? And if so, where the hell do you live?
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
In many homes and apartments in many countries (Venezuela and the USoA included), the main door does not lead right into the house. Instead, the main door leads to a small space (zaguan, salita de estar, pasillo, sort of a small hallway). If I can put an interior door separating this space from the rest of the house, and if I used amazon a lot, then I would gladly go for this Amazon service.
the guy opens the main door, enters, drops the packet, leaves. All on camera
He can not see inside the house (because of the extra door), if he tries to enter the house, he has to force the extra door, and gets recorded on camera...
If, on the other hand, the main door leads right into the house, with no way to separate a small area from the rest, no fucking way I would go for this. Not only for the risk of being robed and what not, but also, for the invasion of privacy (i do not want the delivery guy seing the mess of my house, or what paintings I have on the walls), or getting frinedly with my rottwiler ;-)
*** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
More to the point, those 4.25 Million people are likely the ones living in apartments or crime prone neighborhoods where rightly paranoid people currently shy away from delivery to the home due to theft fears. If people are already frustrated by difficult delivery issues Amazon will become a disproportionate winner with those customers.
Not only will the paranoid buy stuff they were not ordering online previously, but they will buy stuff from Amazon that they could actually get cheaper elsewhere because of the reassurance that their stuff will not be stolen or require them to be present to sign (a major hassle for those with jobs...).
FWIW, I don't really think this is going to be the problem it looks like from the outside. There are a couple of factors reducing your risk.
1. Most of the big name delivery drivers are paid a living wage. They have a reduced incentive to go rogue (I didn't say NO incentive). I assume this will continue to apply to whoever winds up with these delivery permissions.
2. Anybody who gets burgled after having a keyed delivery is likely to immediately blame Amazon, so the police are going to wind up looking hard at the drivers after the first Amazon-burglary. There will be some, but I think it will be a self-correcting problem.
3. How much of the 'good stuff' is visible from the front door via casual glance, but NOT visible already through the windows?
4. People will be watching the deliveries over the camera. A driver who LOOKS LIKE he is casing the place is going to get called out even if he never intends to commit a crime.
5. Amazon has every incentive to make this work**. The very first time someone has a credible case that this service is connected to a crime in someone's house, they will probably massively over-perform their 'service recovery', full financial compensation, lifetime free Prime, additional store discounts, etc.
Certainly there is risk, but I think the additional risk is small.
*: Bank robbery, mostly, but I was locked up with some people who did basically what you described.
**: I live in an apartment complex and my first Amazon shipment (which was also my last) was stolen before pickup. Now I can only get shipments sent to my friends house or my place of employment, both of which can be a hassle to transport home (as a bicycle commuter moving packages can be problematic).
It's fairly common for rural people where their house can not be seen from the road to not lock their doors. The logic being that if someone drives up to your house with the intention to rob it having a locked door just means you'll get robbed AND have to fix your door. In the suburbs it makes more sense to lock your door as a neighbour might notice someone carrying a crowbar up to your front door.
Personally I live in the suburbs and lock my door even when I'm home. There have been a couple of cases over the years where local teens will wonder the neighbourhood quietly opening doors and then stealing wallets and car keys near the door. My neighbour left his back door unlocked when he went on holidays once and kids stole the beer out of his fridge. Locking your doors will eliminate these crimes by the local kids but a locked door won't deter a professional thief.
Urbanites who live in apartment buildings and condominiums are used to having landlords and maintenance staff come into their homes while they're out. Guess who works for Amazon.