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

So they can steal my tools?

[irrational_design]

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.

Re:So they can steal my tools?

[bobstreo]

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.

Amazon Logistics seems to be the culprits in most of these. If delivered via FedEx or even UPS, problems seem to be very minimal.

The other problem that has been observed is they don't bother delivering packages, but mark them as delivered. I guess this makes for good "metrics".

Re:So they can steal my tools?

[DontBeAMoran]

Nobody cares about what happened 8 days ago.

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?

[jellomizer]

Being that we are moving to an economy where products are shipped to us. Having a one way deposit of packages may be the better option then trying to give companies a key to your house. You get increased security, plus such a device can be used with other competing services.

Re:Why?

[vux984]

Hell, even an unlocked mail 'box' would make big difference. Packages out of sight are packages out of mind. Now the thief has to actually come up to the door and check if there is something to steal instead of just walking down the street seeing packages just sitting there for the taking.

A basic lock would be even better, but I think you'd curb most of the problem just by getting the packages out of sight.

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.

Re:Why?

[DarkOx]

Yes 2019, the return of milk door.

Srsly this probably the correct solution. Because like a lot of posters i don't want someone I don't know entering my garage any more than my house. In fact less probably. I would notice pretty quickly if any of the valuables went missing in the house. I have a lot of valuable tools automotive and woodcraft in drawers and cases that someone could remove and I could go weeks, in some cases months or longer, without discovering they were missing.

Delivery drivers with endless time

[Scutter]

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.

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.

Re:Lockers

[aitikin]

...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?

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.