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.

Comments

Why?

[Locke2005]

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.

Re:Why?

[johnlcallaway]

I already have one of these (look up Elephant Trunk on Home Depot). It won't handle really big packages, but most packages will fit. It's normally unlocked, but when someone puts a package in it and closes it, it locks. It's bolted to the porch. It's a bit flimsy, a crowbar could probably open it. But it should deter the snatch-and-grab thieves.

Problem is, no one will use it. I've had it for a month, and no delivery person has put a package in it. I've put the security code in Amazon, UPS, USPS, and FedEx delivery instructions so everyone has access to it. But none of those services provide 'parcel locker' as an option.

Last week, I taped a 'Put packages in this and close the lid' label on it. But of course, I haven't gotten any packages big enough to be delivered to the house yet.

Pickup Point?

[CohibaVancouver]

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.

Re:Pickup Point?

[CWCheese]

There once was a company called Sears, Roebuck and Co which had pickup points all over the nation. They let you order from a catalog and pick up the items when they were ready. Sadly, the company shut down their catalog just a couple years before ecommerce exploded and they never bothered to figure out they could restart the catalog on the internet. Now they are literally hours away from liquidating the corporation and finally going into the sunset.

Parcel Drop Box

[bradley13]

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.