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If you order from Amazon there is the possibility that porch pirates could snatch your brand new Echo Show or a lightning fast modem when you’re not home. Online shopping has exploded in recent years and nearly eight out of 10 Americans shop online. As Amazon gets more popular, the ginormous retailer will have to find solutions to obstacles such as packages being stolen and electronics being ruined by weather. In 2016, nearly 11 million U.S. homeowners had a package stolen from their home. Now Amazon is reportedly tinkering with two new ideas to combat porch pirates: one is to deliver packages to your car’s trunk and the other is to have a smart doorbell that will allow delivery drivers access to your home.
Amazon is in “advanced talks” with Phrame, a company which makes smart license plates with a key-storing compartment unlocks from a smartphone. Phrame’s advanced license plate, which costs $150, features a secure box that holds the car’s keys. The lockbox can be accessed by using a smartphone, and delivery drivers would locate the car using GPS. The new technology would allow the delivery person to pop open your car’s trunk and drop off an Amazon package. They would then close the trunk and your package would be safe until you got home. The owner would receive real-time notifications on their phone when their trunk has been locked and unlocked. There are said to be a smart sensor which allows access to only verified delivery services such as UPS and FedEx and the access would only last for a short period of time.
CNBC is reporting that Amazon is also developing a smart-lock device that will allow delivery drivers to leave packages inside the home. The smart doorbell device would give delivery drivers limited-time only and one-time access to a person’s home to drop off a package. Starting this past August, Walmart was testing an inside-the-home delivery service using a smart lock. The Amazon rival would grant delivery people access to the consumer’s house and even load goods into a pantry or stock your fridge with perishable foods.
Though it opens up the door to potentially more issues, there are a great deal of consumers who welcome delivery people dropping off packages in their home. More than 1 in 4 homeowners who had a package stolen say they would welcome delivery people having access to their home to leave packages directly inside their homes.
Back in 2015, Amazon tested a trunk delivery service in Munich, Germany, and in 2016 the company worked with garage door firm Garageio to allow delivery people access to garages to drop off packages. This has many questioning just how serious Amazon is about these pilot programs.