Amazon Will Soon Offer To Deliver Packages To Your Garage So They Don't Get Stolen (cnbc.com) 157
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.
So they can steal my tools? (Score:5, Insightful)
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? (Score:4, Insightful)
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".
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A UPS guy stole a package from me just last year.
Re:So they can steal my tools? (Score:4, Funny)
Nobody cares about what happened 8 days ago.
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I've had Amazon delivery guys mark stuff as delivered before they actually show up. In one case I got the "Delivered" text hours before it showed up on my porch, just as I was about to report it as stolen.
Do they not take pictures of the item on your porch? That is a requirement near me, and the Amazon delivery notification shows the picture.
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Also, the delivery app records the GPS location. They may not need to walk it to the porch, but they will need to be at your house.
I have a motion-activated camera on my porch, which sends me a notification when someone approaches. When the delivery guy scans the package and marks it as "delivered", I get another notification. These two instant messages usually arrive within seconds of each other. If I get one without the other, then it is obvious who stole the package.
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Pictures are usually requirements put on last mile delivery services by Amazon.
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Most people use their garage to park their cars, their kids bikes, and stuff not valuable enough to store in their climate controlled house.
I'm like you though, my arc welder, milling machine, brand name hand tools etc are worth way more than my TV.
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How big is your CNC if you need to put it in your garage?
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Presumably he means a big ol' Bridgeport or the like. Not wife friendly.
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How big is your CNC if you need to put it in your garage?
Size is not the only issue. I kept my Sherline CNC in the living room for a while. But my wife didn't like the metal shavings in the carpet.
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Just so. Can't get one till I can justify getting rid of some of the tools already in my garage....
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Obvious solution, just get rid of the carpet.
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...or the wife.
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The door lock from most garages to the rest of the house isn't as stout as others. It also gives a rogue employee the ability to drop the garage door, use what burglary tools they feel like using to get in, without being visible. Yes, an alarm may help, but by the time the police arrive, everything is cleaned out.
I almost wish Amazon had something a small version of the Amazon Locker that one can buy and install at their place, with a camera inside that shows the package being scanned and placed inside.
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I was with you at the bikes, but lost you at "not valuable enough".
Why? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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It's worth asking if you can get stuff delivered to work too. A lot of workplaces have people handling deliveries anyway, and handling employee stuff is just a nice perk of the job.
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Which is nice, until you wonder how to get that 100" TV home from work now.
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plus such a device can be used with other competing services.
Yeah, like that's gonna happen. Rest assured that whatever company starts developing something like that will ensure that it can be used by them and by them only. In other words, be prepared to have a delivery box for every big online retailer and for the smaller ones one for every parcel delivery service in your front yard.
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We have agreed on a set of Box types of holding letters and small packages. We call them Mail Boxes. There are different types one for Cities, and other for more rural areas, they are types for businesses with a lock and key. We basically need a bigger box,
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The reason for this is that the post office is a government entity and more concerned with getting mail delivered than with making a buck.
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We have agreed on a set of Box types of holding letters and small packages. We call them Mail Boxes. There are different types one for Cities, and other for more rural areas, they are types for businesses with a lock and key. We basically need a bigger box,
The government also made it illegal for other services to use a mail box intended for the postal service.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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Yeah, good point, as you and the other responder point out... training the delivery companies/postal companies to actually use such boxes, or even other natural cover like pillars or planters etc so that the package isn't in full view of the street also needs to happen.
Of course, just getting the package to the right address in the first place is proving enough of a challenge for them in some cases. :)
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Amazon should provide (or sell really cheap) delivery boxes as part of Prime. Something that's just a resin deck box with a lid, no lock or anything.
They have to train drivers on the "key" process for home or garage access. Training them to just put packages in the box with the (small) Amazon logo and "Deliveries" sign should be easier.
With enough of them in use, all the delivery companies will get good at it. When it's just one house, it's a unique solution that's easy to not do.
Just a box keeping packa
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A driver could lock a box. But, I want to keep it simple enough that a driver will actually use it.
I've seen boxes with digital codes (what if you get more than one package delivered), with directions to put the code in the TO address. Then, lots of stories about about drivers not using them. Even adding an open pad lock to attach is a big step.
Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079... [amazon.com]
Offer it in 2 or 3 colors, slap an Amazon swoosh on each side and the top that's less than an eighth of the
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There are boxes designed specifically for this. They have a barcode that the delivery person can scan in place of a signature. The more intelligent ones have scales so they can weigh the item put in the box, to prevent substitutions or scanning the barcode without depositing the item. Kinda like those automated supermarket checkouts.
They are overkill for most people though. A simple box with padlock would be enough.
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I have a huge front porch with 3 to 4 foot wide pillars in each side of the sidewalk. Want to know where my packages always land? Right between the two pillars in plain sight. It wouldn't even take one second longer for them to put it behind a pillar keeping it out of view.
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Re:Why? (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
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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.
Of course not. That would mean they actually have to walk up to the door and place the package in the box, as opposed to just tossing it on your porch from 20 feet away. Especially the Amazon delivery people who have to deliver an insane amount of packages an hour to make any money off it.
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I used DuckDuckGo to search for that term. No NSFW results and the first result was, as expected, Home Depot Elephant Trunk.
Maybe you should switch search engines to one that doesn't spy on you. If you got NSFW results, Google may have been using some prior knowledge of your desires to tailor its results to your wishes.
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Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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Alternatively, that's what utility rooms (or enclosed porches) are for. You put a lock between that room and the rest of the house, and if you know you're going to have a delivery when you can't be there, you provide them with a temporary code for the outer lock, and lock the door between the utility room (or porch) and the rest of the house.
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No, but pretty much every mobile home on the planet has a utility room, and those are pretty much all built after the 1950s. And lots of folks do things like add a screen room over the back deck or whatever. The same approach works with a wide range of styles.
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See everyone goes to this homes with lockers thing, but how about a simpler and preexisting solution. An antechamber for the front door?
To imagine it, start with the two doors some people might have already, a screen/glass door and the real door. Basically extend the distance between these two doors, and give it extra side space for travel. Bonus you also get a room to take on and off muddy/wet clothes, clean up dirty dogs, etc; before going into the house. The front most door would obviously use a differen
Like hell they will (Score:3)
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.
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I have relatives that I won't let in while I am not there
You live in a pretty sad state to have that little trust in fellow people.
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a clown saying "Want to play a little game?"
The only clown you really have to worry about says "We all float down here".
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So you have never had a package delivered to your house while you were at work?
You have always worked where it was okay to have personal orders delivered to your office/desk?
You have always been home at the delivery time of your packages?
There's a lot of possibilities where a delivery box is needed.
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I also think that anything inside-the-freakin-house is a stupid idea, but an external locking box is a pretty good idea.
Delivery drivers with endless time (Score:4, Insightful)
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? (Score:5, Interesting)
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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.
FedEx does this. You have to sing up for their manager service(free),but you can have them adjust the delivery option en route to a location that will hold it for you. I had them do it when I ordered a new PC that was going to be delivered around Christmas: didn't want a $1300 pc sitting in a big box on my porch for hours waiting for me to get home. So I diverted it to a Walgreens near my house and picked it up on my way home.
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Re:Pickup Point? (Score:5, Interesting)
E-Santa (Score:1)
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 se
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If you can split packages into two categories: small and lightweight vs others, this drive-through idea could work.
The small and lightweight packages must be under 24x24x24 inches and weight 11.0231 pounds or less. An automated storage/retrieval system would allow someone to get their package under X seconds.
Let's leave 6 inches around each side of the storage cubes for whatever technological solution you pick (rails, conveyor belts, etc), that makes 36x36x36 cubes. Also assuming a storage system with no fu
Parcel Drop Box (Score:4, Interesting)
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 [homedepot.com]. 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.
Amazon Key (Score:1)
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.
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You laugh, but with a big-ass QR code at the top of each box it would probably be easier than their current no-cashiers stores.
Pepperidge Farm Remembahs! (Score:2)
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 ta
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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.
We have one of those - Smith Brothers Farms still delivers dairy products to homes in the Puget Sound region.
Haven't had any hobos stealing milk from us yet... although I think a starship captain may have stolen some clothes which were drying on the line.
Ha yeah right (Score:3)
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,
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Won't ring a doorbell, but will put in a garage? (Score:1)
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?
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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.
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Amazon (Score:2)
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Chamberlain and Alexa (Score:2)
Yeah, I don't want Amazon in my garage either! (Score:2)
don't need a camera ??? so they can take no re (Score:2)
don't need a camera so they take no responsibility for any issue?
start by knocking on the door (Score:1)
I have been pricing Lock boxes for parcels (Score:1)
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.
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Does Amazon guarantee myQ security too? (Score:2)
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?
K.I.S.S (Score:2)
If I needed this, I would never use it. (Score:2)
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 f
No good without much better employees. (Score:2)
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
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30 seconds running up to the door, 30 seconds for the idiot to figure out how to use the signature pad, that's one minute more than he has to deliver this package.
Take a look at the ridiculous delivery time specifications these people get and you'll quickly understand why the only way they can keep their job is to do a crappy job. It's not the driver, it's the delivery service that's shit.
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Yeah, that's a great idea (Score:2)
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 t
No Alexa support? (Score:2)
Brand loyalty (Score:2)
What if I use Genie's AlladinConnect, you insensitive clod? Am I shut out of this? :)
Miser
Re:Lockers (Score:4, Informative)
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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.
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Where the heck do you live. I have never seen such a thing.
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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.
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Nobody is going to steal a package out of that.