Coverage: Amazon wants the keys to your front door

Amazon.com Inc.’s couriers will unlock the front doors and drop packages inside when no one is home — as long as you give the company permission — in a new feature the online retailer unveiled Wednesday.

Nick Wingfield of the New York Times had the news:

Amazon isn’t the only business that believes this is the future of internet shopping, as well as other services that require home access, like dog walking and house keeping. This summer, a start-up that makes smart locks, Latch, struck a deal with Jet.com, an online shopping site owned by Walmart, to jointly pay for the installation of its locks on 1,000 apartment buildings in New York City to make deliveries easier. The arrangement offers some of the security of a doorman for people who live in buildings without them.

E-commerce companies have experimented with ways of making deliveries more secure for years. Amazon installs self-service lockers in office buildings and outside supermarkets where customers can fetch their orders, and Daimler and other carmakers have tested the delivery of goods from Amazon and other retailers to customers’ car trunks.

The costs of package theft aren’t known — Amazon, for example, will not say — but are probably substantial. Most people who have spent any time on a neighborhood blog, social network or email list have a sense of how prevalent such crime is. And packages sitting on front porches can also signal to anyone who walks by that the homeowners are away.

Kyle Arnold of the Orlando Sentinel reported that the service would be available in 38 markets starting Nov. 8:

Amazon has been trying to find new ways to deliver goods securely to customers, including lockers and a roving “Treasure Truck.”

The service is only available to Amazon Prime Subscribers and the setup, including the security camera and deadbolt system, costs $249.99. It includes free professional delivery.

The digital deadbolts are made by lock manufacturers Yale and Kwikset, and are similar to other digital passcode locks available on the market.

Retailers wanting access to homes for delivery is a growing trend. Wal-Mart is pairing with a company in California to delivery groceries straight to a customer’s fridge, requiring the same kind of access and trust for delivery individuals.

Amazon’s program tries to reassure customers with a camera hooked up to Amazon’s cloud storage that records the delivery process. Amazon said the door is opened by the delivery driver through a request to Amazon using the smart door lock. Delivery drivers won’t ever have a key or passcode.

Jason Abbruzzese of Mashable reports that package theft is a problem for all ecommerce companies:

But for all its brilliance, Amazon has had trouble getting past that doorstep. It has perfected everything except for that last foot—call it the Last Foot Problem.

And it is a problem. With people now buying tons of stuff online, including pricey things like electronics and clothes, the theft of packages has become a widespread problem. A 2015 survey found 23 million people reported having packages taken from their doorstep.

On it’s face, this is an immediate problem for consumers, but it’s a longer-term problem for Amazon and everyone in ecommerce. If retailers are relying on internet sales for their future, they have to figure out a way to make sure people have absolute confidence that anything and everything they order online will get in their hands.