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It looks like you're trying to make a clever joke in the style of mocking SV types for reinventing products that have existed for generations, except you're wro

It looks like you're trying to make a clever joke in the style of mocking SV types for reinventing products that have existed for generations, except you're wrong. The parent means the Amazon delivery locker kiosks they're putting in all kinds of retail stores, where you enter a code to unlock the locker with your package. It is secure from theft, has variable sizes, works 24/7 with no waiting for a clerk, and can fill the delivery needs of a neighborhood far more efficiently than apartment-style mailboxes where each resident is assigned their own small locker. I wish that USPS would get into this service, because I'm not a fan of Amazon and package theft is rampant. It is nearly impossible to replicate the Amazon locker experience through USPS and other online retailers. If you want to order a package and pick it up at the post office, the best you can hope for is to beg the seller to send it to you via general delivery, which many do not allow. And even though renting a PO box lets you ship packages to the post office and pick them up, most retailers won't ship to PO boxes. A PO box costs about the same per year as a Prime subscription. Plus, you still have to wait in line to pick up your packages.

jollybean 5y ago
So a mailbox with a lock then? We should have had that in 1980. 5 'large mailboxes' for the apartment building, the postman sets the code, locks it, and leaves writes the code on a piece of paper and leaves it in your slot. This is not 'Silicon Valley' innovation.
- Telemakhos 5y ago
  I do have that in my apartment building. But, instead of a code, the lockboxes have keys that only the postman can remove from them. He locks a package in the box, removes the key, and puts it in the recipient's box. When the recipient checks his mail, he uses the key to open the lockbox and withdraw his package. The key is then stuck in the lockbox lock and cannot be withdrawn again except by the postman.
  - aix1 5y ago
    That sounds like a pretty cool system.
    - pixel_tracing 5y ago
      Yes common sense sometimes comes across as cool too
      - aix1 5y ago
        Around here the standard protocol is to just leave packages with a neighbour (there's always someone at home) and leave a card telling where the package is.
  - jollybean 5y ago
    These were ubiquitous in airports, bus/train stations and shopping malls before 9/11 i.e. 'coin slot storage'. I guess people born after a certain age won't remember them, but people born before that will see them as obvious. This exactly the kind of 'robust, localized and low-cost' solution that we have available to us.
  - bradlys 5y ago
    These also exist in sfh developments where mailboxes are grouped together. Usually part of larger planned communities/developments.
- chank 5y ago
  The problem they're trying to solve is that since so many people receive packages these days those '5 large lockable mailboxes' aren't enough anymore and packages end up getting left out in the open. Also lots of places don't have those large lockable mailboxes at all. Then package theft happens. So not so much innovation in the mailbox space than just adding more "lockable mailboxes" for people to use as needed.
  - jollybean 5y ago
    You're missing the point, which is that there are simple solutions to these problems, usually systematic in nature, and 'The Silicon Valley' hasn't helped one iota in helping in this area. They can have 10 lockers if needed. If they don't have in-wall boxes then put a physical container with a few doors. They can use the key scheme as described below. They can leave the package at the Grocery Store across the street, which is a pick-up centre for FedEx and UPS. Silicon Valley is not solving these problems in any meaningful way.
    - the_snooze 5y ago
      Silicon Valley is solving the problem of not having enough Silicon Valley middlemen in your everyday life.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  Electronic locks with electronically delivered opening codes seems like a genuine innovation to me. It's not a fundamentally different concept, but it makes the existing one a lot more practical (e.g. consider the problem of customers stealing keys)
  - sudosysgen 5y ago
    It's much easier to steal a code than a key. Keys work perfectly well, I don't see the issue there.
sudosysgen 5y ago
The only difference between what you're describing and Canada Post lockers is variable sizes.
- sudosysgen 5y ago
  Replying to my own comment - Canada Post actually has varying size lockers now, including outdoors, operated by key. They put the key for the variable size lockers in your small locker to which you have the key.

jollybean 5y ago

So a mailbox with a lock then? We should have had that in 1980. 5 'large mailboxes' for the apartment building, the postman sets the code, locks it, and leaves writes the code on a piece of paper and leaves it in your slot. This is not 'Silicon Valley' innovation.

Telemakhos 5y ago
I do have that in my apartment building. But, instead of a code, the lockboxes have keys that only the postman can remove from them. He locks a package in the box, removes the key, and puts it in the recipient's box. When the recipient checks his mail, he uses the key to open the lockbox and withdraw his package. The key is then stuck in the lockbox lock and cannot be withdrawn again except by the postman.
- aix1 5y ago
  That sounds like a pretty cool system.
  - pixel_tracing 5y ago
    Yes common sense sometimes comes across as cool too
    - aix1 5y ago
      Around here the standard protocol is to just leave packages with a neighbour (there's always someone at home) and leave a card telling where the package is.
- jollybean 5y ago
  These were ubiquitous in airports, bus/train stations and shopping malls before 9/11 i.e. 'coin slot storage'. I guess people born after a certain age won't remember them, but people born before that will see them as obvious. This exactly the kind of 'robust, localized and low-cost' solution that we have available to us.
- bradlys 5y ago
  These also exist in sfh developments where mailboxes are grouped together. Usually part of larger planned communities/developments.
chank 5y ago
The problem they're trying to solve is that since so many people receive packages these days those '5 large lockable mailboxes' aren't enough anymore and packages end up getting left out in the open. Also lots of places don't have those large lockable mailboxes at all. Then package theft happens. So not so much innovation in the mailbox space than just adding more "lockable mailboxes" for people to use as needed.
- jollybean 5y ago
  You're missing the point, which is that there are simple solutions to these problems, usually systematic in nature, and 'The Silicon Valley' hasn't helped one iota in helping in this area. They can have 10 lockers if needed. If they don't have in-wall boxes then put a physical container with a few doors. They can use the key scheme as described below. They can leave the package at the Grocery Store across the street, which is a pick-up centre for FedEx and UPS. Silicon Valley is not solving these problems in any meaningful way.
  - the_snooze 5y ago
    Silicon Valley is solving the problem of not having enough Silicon Valley middlemen in your everyday life.
nicoburns 5y ago
Electronic locks with electronically delivered opening codes seems like a genuine innovation to me. It's not a fundamentally different concept, but it makes the existing one a lot more practical (e.g. consider the problem of customers stealing keys)
- sudosysgen 5y ago
  It's much easier to steal a code than a key. Keys work perfectly well, I don't see the issue there.

sudosysgen 5y ago

The only difference between what you're describing and Canada Post lockers is variable sizes.

sudosysgen 5y ago
Replying to my own comment - Canada Post actually has varying size lockers now, including outdoors, operated by key. They put the key for the variable size lockers in your small locker to which you have the key.