4 ms·

> How about amazon builds (at their expense) an amazon controlled box, slap a mcu on, do authentication over nfc, rfid, etc etc. Offer it to customers free of c

by derefr 3y ago

> How about amazon builds (at their expense) an amazon controlled box, slap a mcu on, do authentication over nfc, rfid, etc etc. Offer it to customers free of charge, hell throw in a sweetener to get them to adopt. I mean, they already do exactly this — this is what Amazon Lockers are. It's just only seemingly worth it to Amazon to deploy them to commercial customers, e.g. at post offices, in front of Whole Foods locations, in some very large apartment building complexes, etc. (My own guess as to why the economics don't work out for individual residences, is that a hypothetical smaller locker — one small enough to fit on a porch — would also inherently be lightweight enough for thieves to just cart away wholesale.)

TeMPOraL 3y ago
And yet somehow here in Poland we have like 5+ companies (InPost, Allegro, several delivery services and even Orlen - the gas station operator - of all things!) one-upping each other in placing parcel lockers on every flat piece of land that's too small for developers to build an apartment block on. I have 10+ of such lockers within 5 minutes walk of my apartment. Now how is that possible?
- derefr 3y ago
  You're talking about the commercial parcel lockers — the ones that fit a whole neighbourhood's deliveries, that are therefore essentially big sturdy metal storage racks underneath — too big and heavy to just pick up and walk away with. Every country has these to some degree; I imagine they're most popular in places that 1. have colder climates, but 2. where people don't tend to drive (like Poland?) The US has some, but the suburban long-distance-commute car culture + generally not-too-bad climate, means that people in the US generally expect to pick up packages from further away, and so implementation of these in the US has lagged behind other countries. However, my comment, and the one it was replying to, are talking about something else — a hypothetical concept of small lockers that serve single homes, given to the homeowner, to be located near the home's mailbox/mailslot. (Basically, logistics-provider-provided versions of these things that you can technically buy online — but where I've never seen anyone with one: https://www.amazon.ca/WeHere-Package-Delivery-Anti-Theft-Password/dp/B09GJJ9LKB/ https://www.amazon.ca/WeHere-Package-Delivery-Anti-Theft-Pas...). And the thing about these is... they really aren't a good idea. They're not too big and heavy to just steal. Anyone who can walk up to your porch with a moving dolly can walk away with it.
  - philwelch 3y ago
    You could always bolt them to the ground. Some older houses have passthroughs built into the walls for deliveries of milk or coal or ice. I’m surprised this feature hasn’t been resurrected for package deliveries.
  - TeMPOraL 3y ago
    Fair enough. I got confused because you mentioned Amazon Lockers, which to my understanding, are the proper brand name of the kind of parcel lockers I mentioned, as deployed by Amazon. I agree that per-household lockers are... tricky at best. But then, if we're talking homes, and thus presumably lawns in front of them, I wonder what are the difficulties of selling a multi-slot locker that would be bolted down to the ground (or perhaps a bunch of concrete filling a hole in the ground), and thus as easy to steal as a thick fence post or an ATM? Is this too expensive for homeowners?
    - sokoloff 3y ago
      What problem is that solving for the homeowner? I get hundreds of packages per year (not an exaggeration) and as far as I know, exactly zero have ever been stolen. Missing packages are invariably delivered to someplace else that must have had a better vibe for the driver that day. (I’ll get pics of proof of delivery with a package that is clearly not at my house.) In that environment, what problem do I have that could be solved by this, and how much effort (and aesthetics) am I willing to spend to solve it? Now, if my house shared a wall with two other houses and people walked by my front door all the time, maybe I’d have a theft problem due to greater opportunities for it to happen. Places with lawns probably don’t have nearly as much package theft just due to less foot traffic.
    - dpkirchner 3y ago
      I'm in the US. Our neighborhood has a multi-slot locker like you describe. It has a small box per house and two larger boxes. The whole thing gets broken in to every couple years, after which the post office will not deliver anything until they fix it weeks later (and they're the only ones allowed to try). When this happens you have to go to a post office to get your mail.
- NavinF 3y ago
  Dude you just replied to a comment about Amazon Lockers, one of many locker services that do exactly what you described in the US. If you combine all the companies (I dunno why you would), there's a lot more than 10 per 5 minute walk in a city
  - TeMPOraL 3y ago
    I know; but I was surprised about implied lack of ubiquity of the kind of lockers that are massively deployed where I live.
    - NavinF 3y ago
      They're ubiquitous, but few prefer them over the convenience of delivery to the doorstep. Buyers are never responsible for missing packages so there's little incentive to use lockers unless you're buying a secret gift or live in a very sketchy neighborhood or your home is so far from the warehouses that same-day delivery is only available at the locker
      - TeMPOraL 3y ago
        I was going to counter it, but I guess same-day delivery is what makes this different from my experience. As a buyer, I'm incentivized to not miss packages, because I've already waited between 2 to 7 days for it, and I don't fancy doubling that time over a delivery dispute. But if my packages were all same-day delivered, I suppose I would give less of a damn.
        NavinF 3y ago
        Well not all of them, but I'd say half my packages are delivered same-day in the bay area and most of the rest are 1 day. It depends on your shopping habits and what products are popular in your area. "essentials" like cables, snacks, batteries, hot sauce, etc are always same-day while large items like microscopes can take 2 days Regarding missed packages, are you talking about stolen packages? I've had a few cases where delivery was one day late and one time I got the wrong order (but got to keep the free groceries along with a full refund for my actual order) but I've never had a package just disappear altogether. Even Aliexpress orders that take 2-4 weeks from China eventually show up.
rtkwe 3y ago
They'd be pretty easy to secure on a wood porch and only require minor power tools on a concrete porch to bolt down. Even if you only chained or cabled it to the railing that'd do a lot. Don't forget thieves won't know until they move the thing if there's even a package to steal.

by derefr 3y ago

TeMPOraL 3y ago

And yet somehow here in Poland we have like 5+ companies (InPost, Allegro, several delivery services and even Orlen - the gas station operator - of all things!) one-upping each other in placing parcel lockers on every flat piece of land that's too small for developers to build an apartment block on. I have 10+ of such lockers within 5 minutes walk of my apartment. Now how is that possible?

derefr 3y ago
You're talking about the commercial parcel lockers — the ones that fit a whole neighbourhood's deliveries, that are therefore essentially big sturdy metal storage racks underneath — too big and heavy to just pick up and walk away with. Every country has these to some degree; I imagine they're most popular in places that 1. have colder climates, but 2. where people don't tend to drive (like Poland?) The US has some, but the suburban long-distance-commute car culture + generally not-too-bad climate, means that people in the US generally expect to pick up packages from further away, and so implementation of these in the US has lagged behind other countries. However, my comment, and the one it was replying to, are talking about something else — a hypothetical concept of small lockers that serve single homes, given to the homeowner, to be located near the home's mailbox/mailslot. (Basically, logistics-provider-provided versions of these things that you can technically buy online — but where I've never seen anyone with one: https://www.amazon.ca/WeHere-Package-Delivery-Anti-Theft-Password/dp/B09GJJ9LKB/ https://www.amazon.ca/WeHere-Package-Delivery-Anti-Theft-Pas...). And the thing about these is... they really aren't a good idea. They're not too big and heavy to just steal. Anyone who can walk up to your porch with a moving dolly can walk away with it.
- philwelch 3y ago
  You could always bolt them to the ground. Some older houses have passthroughs built into the walls for deliveries of milk or coal or ice. I’m surprised this feature hasn’t been resurrected for package deliveries.
- TeMPOraL 3y ago
  Fair enough. I got confused because you mentioned Amazon Lockers, which to my understanding, are the proper brand name of the kind of parcel lockers I mentioned, as deployed by Amazon. I agree that per-household lockers are... tricky at best. But then, if we're talking homes, and thus presumably lawns in front of them, I wonder what are the difficulties of selling a multi-slot locker that would be bolted down to the ground (or perhaps a bunch of concrete filling a hole in the ground), and thus as easy to steal as a thick fence post or an ATM? Is this too expensive for homeowners?
  - sokoloff 3y ago
    What problem is that solving for the homeowner? I get hundreds of packages per year (not an exaggeration) and as far as I know, exactly zero have ever been stolen. Missing packages are invariably delivered to someplace else that must have had a better vibe for the driver that day. (I’ll get pics of proof of delivery with a package that is clearly not at my house.) In that environment, what problem do I have that could be solved by this, and how much effort (and aesthetics) am I willing to spend to solve it? Now, if my house shared a wall with two other houses and people walked by my front door all the time, maybe I’d have a theft problem due to greater opportunities for it to happen. Places with lawns probably don’t have nearly as much package theft just due to less foot traffic.
  - dpkirchner 3y ago
    I'm in the US. Our neighborhood has a multi-slot locker like you describe. It has a small box per house and two larger boxes. The whole thing gets broken in to every couple years, after which the post office will not deliver anything until they fix it weeks later (and they're the only ones allowed to try). When this happens you have to go to a post office to get your mail.
NavinF 3y ago
Dude you just replied to a comment about Amazon Lockers, one of many locker services that do exactly what you described in the US. If you combine all the companies (I dunno why you would), there's a lot more than 10 per 5 minute walk in a city
- TeMPOraL 3y ago
  I know; but I was surprised about implied lack of ubiquity of the kind of lockers that are massively deployed where I live.
  - NavinF 3y ago
    They're ubiquitous, but few prefer them over the convenience of delivery to the doorstep. Buyers are never responsible for missing packages so there's little incentive to use lockers unless you're buying a secret gift or live in a very sketchy neighborhood or your home is so far from the warehouses that same-day delivery is only available at the locker
    - TeMPOraL 3y ago
      I was going to counter it, but I guess same-day delivery is what makes this different from my experience. As a buyer, I'm incentivized to not miss packages, because I've already waited between 2 to 7 days for it, and I don't fancy doubling that time over a delivery dispute. But if my packages were all same-day delivered, I suppose I would give less of a damn.
      - NavinF 3y ago
        Well not all of them, but I'd say half my packages are delivered same-day in the bay area and most of the rest are 1 day. It depends on your shopping habits and what products are popular in your area. "essentials" like cables, snacks, batteries, hot sauce, etc are always same-day while large items like microscopes can take 2 days Regarding missed packages, are you talking about stolen packages? I've had a few cases where delivery was one day late and one time I got the wrong order (but got to keep the free groceries along with a full refund for my actual order) but I've never had a package just disappear altogether. Even Aliexpress orders that take 2-4 weeks from China eventually show up.

rtkwe 3y ago

They'd be pretty easy to secure on a wood porch and only require minor power tools on a concrete porch to bolt down. Even if you only chained or cabled it to the railing that'd do a lot. Don't forget thieves won't know until they move the thing if there's even a package to steal.