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Amazon Will Soon Offer To Deliver Packages To Your Garage So They Don't Get Stolen (cnbc.com)
Amazon has a new way to prevent thieves from stealing packages. In early 2019, Amazon will offer to deliver packages right into your garage, the company announced Monday at CES. The service is called Key for Garage, and joins Amazon's Key for Home and Key for Car services. From a report: Key for Garage, like Key for Home, requires some additional hardware. You'll need a $80 Chamberlain myQ Smart Home bridge, which will let Amazon talk to your garage door opener so that it can be opened by a delivery person. Folks who already own that hub will be able to use it. You'll also need an Amazon Prime subscription. Unlike Key for Home, you don't need a camera to record the delivery. This method of delivery might be welcomed by people who didn't like Key for Home (previously simply known as Amazon Key), which didn't always work well if you had dogs at home, didn't want to let Amazon into your house, or had an alarm system.
Where I live, Amazon delivery drivers have already been caught stealing packages from porches when dropping off their deliveries. The tools in my garage are a lot more valuable than any package on my porch.
Or, you know, we could start building homes with a locked cabinet on the front porch to deliver packages into... personally, I want an "arctic entrance" (vestibule with inner and outer doors) so I can just give Amazon drivers the key to the outside door! Plus also saves on heat/cooling loss if only one one door is opened at a time.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Strangers coming into the house while I am not there... Yeah, right.
I have relatives that I won't let in while I am not there, let alone some anonymous delivery person.
Palaces, barricades, threats, meet promises
What happens when a delivery guy gets in the garage and suddenly the door shuts behind him and 3 growling dobermans pop out along with a clown saying "Want to play a little game?"
What people will say on day 2 when hackers figure out how to open your doors via this tech.
This is nuts. Just either specify delivery drivers have to get a signature on delivery or have it held somewhere secure and you go pick it up. Seriously how lazy are people that this is even a question anymore? Or is it that social media has made people so socially avoidant that they've all become hermits who hide in their houses and even have toilet paper delivered so they don't have to interact with actual human beings? Instead it's "Oh I'll just spend hundreds of dollars on fancy locks and shit of questionable security so complete strangers can come into my house/garage/car/whatever to drop off packages". This is fucking stupid.
This must be for drivers will lots of spare time. Around here, they barely even slow down long enough to fling my package onto my front lawn from the driver's seat. I can just imagine how much they'll enjoy waiting for my garage door to open and then sticking around long enough to make sure it closes again after they carefully deliver my goods.
Oh, wait, no they won't. Because their dispatcher will ride them for taking too long to make their route.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
Great for casing a place out. Fnid out what car[s] they have, what tools, and if the garage has an access door to the home.
Garage doors usually don't have alarms.
Another way for people to pay to have stuff stolen from them, and thats not including their personal information.
I live in Vancouver, Canada. I certainly don't mind going to an Amazon.ca "pickup point" to get my packages, but the way it's arranged is a disorganized mess as you can only pick up purchases fulfilled by Amazon. As Amazon doesn't want to discourage you from buying from third parties (more profit for them) they make it difficult to filter those options out of their search results, so it's hard to exclude them. Just make it possible to get anything I buy from Amazon.ca retrievable from a pickup point and the problem is solved - At least for me, anyway.
...I've never seen one. Using the search on Amazon shows there are none in my area. Fortunately for me my expensive stuff can be received at work and things like the dog food that gets delivered regularly doesn't get stolen, but there's plenty of people in my city where that's not going to be...effective?
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
Except that they are not "literally on every street corner". I live well within the boundaries of the fifth largest metro area in the US and there aren't any within five or more miles from my house.
I imagine many will have parcel sheds, mini-garages designed just to receive parcels. Maybe they'll even have refrigerators for delivered groceries. No reason the remote access for a garage wouldn't work exactly the same way with a purpose-built shed, maybe even equipped with an overhead door. Some ordinary houses already have a separate "3rd car" garage. All three bays are never occupied by 3 cars.
How about another "vision"? Some 3rd party cracks the code and has contraband delivered to your house, then picks it up later after surveilling the area. Not a new idea, but now it's semi-secure from a 4th party opportunistic theft. Or... you have it delivered to your house, leave it untouched in the garage for a while, and if LEO show up, claim you had no knowledge, that some 3rd party must've had it delivered and then couldn't/didn't retrieve it.
Where the heck do you live. I have never seen such a thing.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Next up: E-Santa that crawls down your chimney to deliver packages. Drone "reindeer" lands on your roof, Santa-bot then crawls down with packages.
I suspect newer houses will have large lock-boxes for such. The advantage of a lock-box is that even if a thief cracks it, they only have access to the lock-box. The other end of the door will lock, similar to a garage entry door.
Then again, if a thief can crawl into the lock-box, they'll have a long time to pick the lock or dig through the wall without anybody seeing.
What about drive-through package pick-up; kind of a post-office-done-right. McPackage?
Table-ized A.I.
they are free yes. I live within a 50 mile radius of Amazon HQ and a huge warehouse about 30 miles south of HQ. There are very few locker available or around. I'd have to drive about 10 miles out of my way to get to the closest one. That and they are full 99% of the time.
So no, they are not on every corner, you're lucky to have a single one between 2 cities, even in the Seattle Metro area (serving almost 4 million people)
There is a much better system in the Netherlands (and other countries in Europe)
Delivery agents never put a delivery on the porch, that is just not allowed. They always ring the bell. When no one is home, the agent can either deliver next door, or come back the next day. after two delivery failures you can pick up you delivery at the depo.
If you don't want "next door delivery" you put up a sign: "No next door delivery"
Problem soved.
I really want random underpaid drivers to have access to my garage, sure I do.
It would be better to just install a parcel drop box. This is essentially a mailbox that accepts and swallows packages. They can only be removed with a key. Any home that has a mailbox at the street can easily install one of these. There are also models for cluster mailboxes and apartments, though space can be an issue in those cases.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
Will it one day be normal and necessary to give your house keys to your online retailer?
Will there be any pushback when that day comes?
Talk about boiling frogs. FFS.
I have a better Idea for Amazon Key.
Everyone gets a key to the Amazon warehouse. They are free anytime to come in and pick up their package. Cameras everywhere make this possible!
Amazon has NOTHING to lose, and EVERYTHING to gain, a win-win situation.
Back in ye olde dayes - milk used to be delivered to special boxes (provided by the milk company) just outside the house so the milk man could just leave his deliveries at the door.
Now there weren't lockable but it seems to me that Amazon could provide a smart-lockable box that could be mounted near the door or chained to the mailbox Yes, the box could be stolen but because it's a separate box nobody will know there's anything in it (unless they're watching for it) and then they can't just walk up and take the package.
This also doesn't resolve the "big" package issue either but nothing really will there and I'm certainly not going to give Amazon access to my house/garage.
Why doesn't someone create a "smart" (for lack of better term) that you can have on your porch. It's unlocked by default, the package delivery person, be it USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, Amazon, or anyone really, can just place the package in there, close the box and it's locked. You come home unlock it and take your package inside.
Done.
If you are getting multiple packages, then a system like what is described in the article can be used to unlock the box and allow another delivery company/person to open the box and place the additional package(s) in there. It can all be recorded and even sent to you as well as the delivery company who opened the box along with any prior companies who opened it that day (or until you unlock it yourself) to track and audit and record all activity.
I'd pay $100-200 for such a box, but you'd have to pay me at least $1000/year to allow any delivery person into my house without me being there. Not to mention if that person ever steals anything, even a $0.50 sticker my kid left on the floor, a 100% guarantee that person goes to jail and becomes ineligible for any related type of job for the rest of their life.
I'd settle for them getting to my house.
They kept consistently putting them in my mailbox and raise the red "return" flag to avoid going up my 300ft driveway. This is illegal. Also problematic when the POST OFFICE picks up your item before you're able to revive it, as they should because red flags up and it's in the box. Then Post Office DEMANDS shipping fee to turn your item to you. Happened to me. Consistantly complained to Amazon Customer Support that they are NOT to go to mailbox and should be delivered TO THE HOUSE up the Driveway just like UPS, FedEx and other services do. I literally have security footage of the driver not even stopping and tossing two packages out the window on Sunday morning, half in the road at the bottom of my driveway. It rained. Packages got soaked. LUCKILY they were plastic wrapped inside the packages so they were safe. Complained to Amazon again, I doubt anything will be done.
There are a few nice drivers, that rent UHaul Vans and wear reflective vests that drive up and hand deliver packages that are professional. But majority of the drivers are lazy looking to get paid and dont care. They get paid in "Blocks" ex you can a set price to delivered a set packages that should take you X amount of time by their estimate. If you deliver it faster, by chucking shit out the window, you can then pick up more routes and make more money per hour effectively. Thats what these people are doing,
Live in an area where you don't have worry about someone grabbing stuff from your doorstep.
Coworker of mine's daughter had her bike stolen by a neighborhood shithead. He drove over to the kid's house and told his family that he was going to take a baseball bat to one of them if they ever robbed his kids again.
You know what happened? They didn't steal from anyone again that he knew of. Outside of UMC areas of the world, that is how most of humanity lives and has always lived.
There is nothing uncivilized about his threat. Protecting property rights is the keystone for protecting human life because a significant amount of killing happens over resources. People who are afraid of getting killed for robbery are less likely to do the sort of felonious things that escalate into bloodshed.
If Amazon (along with other delivery services) can't even be bothered to take 5 seconds to ring your doorbell when they do a hit-and-run delivery...how can one expect them to take the time to deliver a package to a recipient's garage?
I thought Amazon was master of efficiency. Why don't they have an app that tells you the exact time your package is arriving?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
So, Chamberlain, the company that forced the removal of a third party Alexa Skill, is going to allow Amazon access to it's systems?
We have 2 Contico drop boxes, still in use after several years in TX coastal sun & salt spray. Both were sold by big box stores as tool storage boxes. One is cabled to a utility pole, other has 3 concrete block in bottom. Both get packages for all delivery drivers. Locking lids and pad lock hanging inside boxes secure box when packages are in. Occasional oversize delivery get a knock or phone call. 2 deliveries in a day by 2 separate drives are very rar.
No door or garage access is required, security risk is not increased, packages are not left exposed to rain or worse. Several year in 2 high risk neighborhoods have not gotten a broken or robbed contico box. I am sure a better cheap box exists. CONTICO Portable Tool Box,37" W x 21" D x 20" H 3725
Contico Walmart # 550108279
Grainger has extensive list of "jobsite boxes" capable of larger steel locked storage. Paint to match your lawn?
Why don't people who can't trust packages left on their doorstep just use Amazon lockers? They are free and literally on every street corner. Just get your package on your way home from work.
I've seen 1 Amazon locker facility. Downtown, across a major interstate (actually 2 interstates merged together)from a major university. Haven't seen one anywhere else.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
I have a PetSafe dog door that I modified to have a one-way interior flap rather than the flexible vinyl flap. I machined an aluminum plate that can swing inwards to the house but not outwards (don't want to let the dogs out, obviously). The outer door can swing outwards but not inwards.
So picture this: the carrier opens the outer door and places a box in the space between the two doors, which is a few inches. The box rests against but does not open the inner door. The carrier then uses the outer door to push the package through the inner door, simultaneously closing and latching shut the outer door.
The package falls through the inner door and the inner door closes behind it.
Thieves are welcome to try to reach in and steal packages. I do have the necessarily legal signage warning them that unlawful entry to the home through the doggie door may result in grave bodily harm or death by dog mauling.
Never. Honestly, I would rather have my packages stolen than give Bezos access to anything. Literally anything. He isn't even entitled to my farts.
They need to figure out how to secure packages in something they own, not in something that I own.
don't need a camera so they take no responsibility for any issue?
They could start by knocking on the door, or ringing the doorbell. Half the time I'm sitting 5 feet away from the front door, and there is no indication a package has been delivered until I leave the house.
So Amazon (and anyone authorized by Amazon or anyone that found a vulnerability)
can enter my house with not only my authorization but even with a device I DAMN PAY
for.
But seriously there are so d*mb people out there willing to pay for such backdoor?!
BTW if my package is stolen is on Amazon responsibility not mine, so I loose nothing.
just kick it in we are not at flat if any thing brakes or the package stops and blocks the beams so your door is open all day long.
I am moving to a new apartment which is on the first floor with a porch, and I have been pricing lock box's for parcel drops.
This is about the best I have seen so far for apartments. Let me rephrase that, this appears to be the most affordable one that I have seen so far.
Anonymous comments are as pathetic as the anonymous "sources" that contaminate gutless journalism from the New York Time
Nobody is going to steal a package out of that.
Have gnu, will travel.
So if the myQ bridge is hacked giving criminals access to your garage, does Amazon take on the liability, or will they tell you it's not their product? Does Amazon own security patches for those devices now?
Frankly, I wish they wouldn't ring the doorbell so often. It drives the dogs nuts. I'm surprised at the number of complaints I'm seeing here about how Amazon delivery is working for some people because ours has been impeccable thus far. Often they set it on some planter shelves we have, or behind a pillar, or even in the door. Even so, I'm liking the idea of just getting a lidded box, no lock even needed. That way you can't tell if there's a package from the street. But the garage? No way. My bicycle cost more than several deliveries put together and garage doors can be finicky about closing easily.
I do not have a signature
Isn't this just the Garagenvertrag that Deutsche Post / DHL has had for decades?
I just have it delivered to work.. even my sex toys.. no one knows!
Have you fscked your local propeller head today?
The very need for this product obsoletes itself.
I know there are areas where leaving a package unattended in front of your home is a good way to get a package stolen. I do not know why if I don't trust the people outside my home, I will let them into my home when I'm not at home.
If I trust strangers enough to give them access to my home or garage or car when I'm not around, then wouldn't I trust them enough to leave a package on my front step?
Basically, if I needed this service, I would never use it. If I felt secure enough to use, that would mean I didn't need it.
I've seen 1 Amazon locker facility. Downtown, across a major interstate (actually 2 interstates merged together)from a major university. Haven't seen one anywhere else.
That's probably because they are in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.'
If you get away from urban places, there aren't any amazon lockers.
For example, I'd have to drive at least 20 minutes to get to the closest amazon locker.
OTOH, I've never had or heard of anyone stealing packages from our porches here. I see police cars about once a week, if even that often and that is usually a few miles away from house.
Around here, we all have guns and since it is an older neighborhood with about 50% retirees, people are home and outside all the time. Break ins just don't happen here. A few times a week, I target shoot in the back yard with the neighbors. We ain't all cityfied here.
You know how you put things in a mailbox and items drop down but you can't reach in and get anything out? Yea, just a big one of those either free standing by your front door or built into the front door like many houses used to have for envelopes. The challenge is that we are getting some pretty big boxes being delivered so it will have to accommodate all sizes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoxhDk-hwuo&frags=pl%2Cwn
Opening my garage door will also set off my alarm - unless the inner door is also opened and the alarm disarmed.
Try again Amazon. Still not getting access.
Oh, that time when your âcustomer serviceâ(TM) folks promised my package would be delivered out of sight (because it was a prime package delivered 3 days later than promised, after I had left for vacation) then the delivery person threw it onto my porch and left it fully visible from the street - all recorded on my Ring doorbell (Iâ(TM)m told a reprimand went to that particular delivery person....). Amazon really need to get their stuff together.... or you are going to be refunding or resending lots of packages as they get stolen due to your delivery persons mistakes.
Most of the time, the malingering burnouts doing the delivering are too damn lazy to so much as ring the doorbell. Does Amazon *really* think these loafers are willing (and able) to learn to use this new system? Does Amazon really think that someone who's unwilling to delay their next bong hit the 10 seconds it takes to walk the extra few feet and push the doorbell button are going to wait an extra 45 seconds on top of that to deal with the garage door and the remote system? Does Amazon actually believe that I'd trust these clods alone in any part of my home at any time for any reason?
We've a Ring doorbell plus security cameras covering the porch & garage areas. So when a package is updated in the Amazon/USPS/UPS/FedEx/etc. systems as "delivered", I know 100% with zero doubt if it has, in fact, actually been delivered; or if they're lying through their teeth. Right about now, they're collectively running about 50/50. Hell, I try not to have stuff delivered at home at all unless I know someone will be in the house. So 90% of the time, if the driver could be arsed to expend that tiny bit of effort to push the damn button on the damn doorbell; there'd be a human being to hand the package off to 30 seconds later; no house or garage access or any integration with Amazon's systems necessary at all.
Imagine all the people...
When I use them, I just pick it up at a local store or at the post office. If I did not sign for them, I did not receive them.
Disclaimer: living in Belgium.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
It's probably the most efficient way to ensure that not only your packages will be stolen but also pretty much anything stored in your garage. There is SO much wrong with this that I don't even know where to start.
First, the delivery guy. You have to trust this guy to be honest enough not to think that your new tools would look way better in his garage.
Then, his schedule. How fast does your automatic garage door open? Mine takes quite a few seconds to open. And about as long to close. Now couple this with the average delivery guy not even having the time to sensibly deliver your package to the front door, more often than not you get it delivered in good old paper boy fashion, i.e. chucked towards the door with more or less aim. Even if you're home. Because getting your signature takes time he doesn't have. Now let's ponder for a moment whether he is going to wait for your garage door to fully open and fully close again. What you may expect is that as soon as that package can somehow be squeezed in the crack opened, he will do just that, hop into his car and be on his way. Whether the garage door closes? Not his problem. It's yours.
And I don't even want to get started on the fairly shoddy state of security such IoT solutions are generally in. Probably anyone who has at least a passing interest in electronics will figure out a way to hack this.
Thanks, but no, thanks.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
UPS already offers this you can put your garage code into the ups website and they will open it put the package in it and close it. put a little $20 camera in there and I feel like you alleviate the risk of theft - or at least theft that can't be tracked down. In my area at least I like the feature, i've used it for quite some time w/o issue.
Does the Chamberlain myQ Smart Home bridge support Alexa? I read it doesn't.
What if I use Genie's AlladinConnect, you insensitive clod? Am I shut out of this? :)
Miser
You need to choke on a bag of dicks.
Seriously. FOAD