Amazon Expanding Delivery Locker Service

An anonymous reader writes "The WSJ reports that Amazon's new secret weapon in its fight against other retailers is its delivery locker service. Dropping a package at a customer's door is not particularly secure, so Amazon Lockers were introduced about a year ago to provide a secure location for customers to retrieve their shipments. Now, Amazon is ramping up the service, opening new sites in the San Francisco Bay Area. From the article: 'Users don't pay extra to use the service but the locker program helps Amazon save on certain shipping costs. ShopRunner's Ms. Dias said UPS and FedEx Corp. FDX 0.00% charge retailers as much as 20% more to deliver packages to residential addresses because it is more efficient to deliver multiple packages to a business address. Failed deliveries are also more expensive for online retailers because those consumers are more likely to call customer service, switch to a competitor, or get a replacement item.'"

Deutsche Post's far ahead

[maweki]

In Germany we have a similar but general system called "Packstation" (package station). Everybody can get an access code and everybody and every company can send a package to any Packstation in the country (there's one for every 50.000 to 100.000 people). You can get automated round-the-clock access via electronic card and a pin-code.
You can also drop off packages. You get an email and sms when a package for you arrived. All in all, pretty nifty system.

And it doesn't cost a cent more than having it delivered to your house.

Re:The P.O. Box reinvented?

[jyujin]

I'm still stumped at how people manage to actually receive anything sent to their homes to boot. Maybe it's just me, but at my place nobody's at home in that rather... flexible... time span that delivery companies might decide to drop by... ... but then again I find it easier to just have the things I want delivered to either the company where I work rather than to some PO Box workalike where I actually drive by and pick it up.

Re:The P.O. Box reinvented?

[vlm]

I find it easier to just have the things I want delivered to either the company where I work

I purchased a small metal cutting lathe and had it delivered to work... purchasing took one look at the crate and were absolutely mystified, they couldn't even yell at me, they were so distracted/confused/astounded that someone would do that to them. This was at a suit and tie establishment; were I still working at the printing company they wouldn't have batted an eyelash. Getting it home was quite a chore let me tell you, but at least I was hauling it down the stairs, not up.

My current employer actively discourages people from having personal belongings delivered to them. At work delivery seems to be a perk that is going away. That's sad. Frankly I'd rather have at work delivery than a useless foozball table or nerf products.

One Step Behind Wal-Mart

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

The next thing Amazon needs to do is leverage these pickup locations into payment locations. At that point they will be able to do what wal-mart started doing earlier this year and accept cash for online purchases. [gigaom.com]

It would be nice if they did a better job than wal-mart and instead of requiring photo-id to pick-up a cash purchase, they will just give you a receipt that can be exchanged for the product when it comes in, regardless of who holds the receipt.