4 ms·

A nifty idea, but I can see thievery being a pretty big downside to this. You're putting goods into an unattended box with easily-broken windows.

atonse 12y ago
I think you might be overestimating the security provided by easily-broken windows and a wooden front door in a house. They're probably both about the same?
- rplnt 12y ago
  Cars usually have alarms.
  - AtmaScout 12y ago
    Many houses do too which when triggered call the police.
    - madaxe_again 12y ago
      Ho ho ho. They usually call a monitoring centre, who then call the police, who then take a note that they were called, sit back, and have another cup of tea. To actually get any kind of police response, you have to have a specially certified alarm system, and there have to be multiple sensors triggered... and even then, they'll take a note that they were called, sit back, and have another cup of tea. See the recent Hatton Garden raid as a case in point.
      - cafard 12y ago
        Depends on where. When ours went off while we were out of town, the neighbors were treated not only to the horn sounding in the dark ours, but to the sight of policemen inspecting the outside with flashlights and guns in hand.
        madaxe_again 12y ago
        I'm talking UK - guessing you're talking US, given flashlights and guns, as opposed to torches and tazers!
        tough-crowd 12y ago
        Epitome of a tool. I'm talking US :)
        HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago
        It does. I've had mine go off after I left for work because I didn't close the door soon enough. Got a call from the Minneapolis PD that it was secure, but if it happened again within a year, I could expect a fine. Better than what happened to a friend of mine though. Her dad was a well-known doctor in a small town and let them use his house while he was on vacation. She couldn't remember the code when the alarm went off, so multiple cop cars showed up surrounding the house, police with drawn guns, etc. (he had notified them he was leaving on vacation) coming inside to arrest her and husband until she was able to convince them that she was his daughter and allowed to be there.
    - Tomte 12y ago
      In Germany? Only villas in very rich residential areas. "Normal houses" very rarely have alarm systems here.
      - brianwawok 12y ago
        How many normal houses in the US have an alarm system? I cannot think of a single friend of mine who has an alarm system. Some live in Chicago, some live "in the country". I guess I remember a friend's parent that had an alarm system, which oddly was one of the few houses I know of that was broken in to. I think the burglar cut the alarm wire on entry and got a bunch of stuff.
        cafard 12y ago
        We do, and many of our neighbors do. We are in a fairly quiet neighborhood of Washington, DC, but there are holdups now and then, auto thefts, and burglaries.
        AtmaScout 12y ago
        Nearly everyone I know has one.
        HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago
        A surprising number of them do. I lived in a house that came with one because the previous owner was a woman who often worked very late and was nervous about coming home alone at midnight. I signed up for the monitoring because it was only about $25/month and homeowner's insurance gave discounts because of it.
        Kluny 12y ago
        My uncle does, not by choice but because his house was robbed about ten years ago, and the insurance company refused to renew his policy unless he installed one.
- RankingMember 12y ago
  I agree, though for high-dollar items you're usually required to be present to sign for an item. That, and your car may find itself parked in areas much seedier than where you choose to live.
  - pbhjpbhj 12y ago
    Perhaps don't order items to be delivered to your boot if your car is parked somewhere seedy? I imagine that this is more for people who park in a corporate, gated car park 5 days a week and want to get Amazon deliveries without taking a day off. My work used to take in small parcels when I worked in an office; the car-park was secure, gated with CCTV and I'd have had no problem using such a system which would require me to be on call to receive the delivery. Personally I think lock-boxes in secure locations are probably better but there's perhaps more problems with personal security then - someone waits at the location and mugs you when you're picking up the parcel (that's not going to be so easy in an office car park).
  - HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago
    It's more like "perceived high-dollar items." When I lived in the city, UPS made me drive out to their depot in the suburbs to pick up a cheap white box PC because they wouldn't leave it with no one to sign for it. However, they had no problem leaving my $900 Karastan rug propped up against the front door where it could get rained on/stolen, etc...
    - ghaff 12y ago
      It sometimes seems pretty random. Going to the UPS or FedEx depot is a bit of a pain for me and every now and then I'll have to go and sign for something that in no way merits having to sign given that probably 99% of the stuff I get from Amazon just gets dropped in either my mailbox or by my front door. I think the last time I had to go to FedEx it was to pickup a broken P&S camera being returned to me as unrepairable.
neonfreon 12y ago
Most of my packages end up on my front door, right out in the open. Putting them in my car would be less obvious and more secure. It's a nice compromise between them having access to my house (more secure for the package, but less secure for my house), and leaving the packages on the front door step.

atonse 12y ago

I think you might be overestimating the security provided by easily-broken windows and a wooden front door in a house. They're probably both about the same?

rplnt 12y ago
Cars usually have alarms.
- AtmaScout 12y ago
  Many houses do too which when triggered call the police.
  - madaxe_again 12y ago
    Ho ho ho. They usually call a monitoring centre, who then call the police, who then take a note that they were called, sit back, and have another cup of tea. To actually get any kind of police response, you have to have a specially certified alarm system, and there have to be multiple sensors triggered... and even then, they'll take a note that they were called, sit back, and have another cup of tea. See the recent Hatton Garden raid as a case in point.
    - cafard 12y ago
      Depends on where. When ours went off while we were out of town, the neighbors were treated not only to the horn sounding in the dark ours, but to the sight of policemen inspecting the outside with flashlights and guns in hand.
      - madaxe_again 12y ago
        I'm talking UK - guessing you're talking US, given flashlights and guns, as opposed to torches and tazers!
        tough-crowd 12y ago
        Epitome of a tool. I'm talking US :)
      - HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago
        It does. I've had mine go off after I left for work because I didn't close the door soon enough. Got a call from the Minneapolis PD that it was secure, but if it happened again within a year, I could expect a fine. Better than what happened to a friend of mine though. Her dad was a well-known doctor in a small town and let them use his house while he was on vacation. She couldn't remember the code when the alarm went off, so multiple cop cars showed up surrounding the house, police with drawn guns, etc. (he had notified them he was leaving on vacation) coming inside to arrest her and husband until she was able to convince them that she was his daughter and allowed to be there.
  - Tomte 12y ago
    In Germany? Only villas in very rich residential areas. "Normal houses" very rarely have alarm systems here.
    - brianwawok 12y ago
      How many normal houses in the US have an alarm system? I cannot think of a single friend of mine who has an alarm system. Some live in Chicago, some live "in the country". I guess I remember a friend's parent that had an alarm system, which oddly was one of the few houses I know of that was broken in to. I think the burglar cut the alarm wire on entry and got a bunch of stuff.
      - cafard 12y ago
        We do, and many of our neighbors do. We are in a fairly quiet neighborhood of Washington, DC, but there are holdups now and then, auto thefts, and burglaries.
        AtmaScout 12y ago
        Nearly everyone I know has one.
      - HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago
        A surprising number of them do. I lived in a house that came with one because the previous owner was a woman who often worked very late and was nervous about coming home alone at midnight. I signed up for the monitoring because it was only about $25/month and homeowner's insurance gave discounts because of it.
      - Kluny 12y ago
        My uncle does, not by choice but because his house was robbed about ten years ago, and the insurance company refused to renew his policy unless he installed one.
RankingMember 12y ago
I agree, though for high-dollar items you're usually required to be present to sign for an item. That, and your car may find itself parked in areas much seedier than where you choose to live.
- pbhjpbhj 12y ago
  Perhaps don't order items to be delivered to your boot if your car is parked somewhere seedy? I imagine that this is more for people who park in a corporate, gated car park 5 days a week and want to get Amazon deliveries without taking a day off. My work used to take in small parcels when I worked in an office; the car-park was secure, gated with CCTV and I'd have had no problem using such a system which would require me to be on call to receive the delivery. Personally I think lock-boxes in secure locations are probably better but there's perhaps more problems with personal security then - someone waits at the location and mugs you when you're picking up the parcel (that's not going to be so easy in an office car park).
- HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago
  It's more like "perceived high-dollar items." When I lived in the city, UPS made me drive out to their depot in the suburbs to pick up a cheap white box PC because they wouldn't leave it with no one to sign for it. However, they had no problem leaving my $900 Karastan rug propped up against the front door where it could get rained on/stolen, etc...
  - ghaff 12y ago
    It sometimes seems pretty random. Going to the UPS or FedEx depot is a bit of a pain for me and every now and then I'll have to go and sign for something that in no way merits having to sign given that probably 99% of the stuff I get from Amazon just gets dropped in either my mailbox or by my front door. I think the last time I had to go to FedEx it was to pickup a broken P&S camera being returned to me as unrepairable.

neonfreon 12y ago

Most of my packages end up on my front door, right out in the open. Putting them in my car would be less obvious and more secure. It's a nice compromise between them having access to my house (more secure for the package, but less secure for my house), and leaving the packages on the front door step.