I know that many of love the convenience and savings of Amazon Prime (especially those of us who earn free Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks!). And I know that many of us will likely order a number of our Christmas gifts from Amazon (myself included!)
So when I saw the news about Amazon Key, I just had to ask you all for your thoughts on it. Essentially, Amazon Key is a service that allows couriers to open your front door and place packages inside while you’re not home.
The Verge did a great article on it explaining how it will work and the pros and cons behind it. Here’s a snippet of the article:
The service is called Amazon Key, and it relies on a Amazon’s new Cloud Cam and compatible smart lock. The camera is the hub, connected to the internet via your home Wi-Fi. The camera talks to the lock over Zigbee, a wireless protocol utilized by many smart home devices.
When a courier arrives with a package for in-home delivery, they scan the barcode, sending a request to Amazon’s cloud. If everything checks out, the cloud grants permission by sending a message back to the camera, which starts recording. The courier then gets a prompt on their app, swipes the screen, and voilà, your door unlocks. They drop off the package, relock the door with another swipe, and are on their way. The customer will get a notification that their delivery has arrived, along with a short video showing the drop-off to confirm everything was done properly.
You can read the rest of the article about it here.
So, what do you think of this service? Would you use it? Why or why not? I’d love to hear your honest thoughts!
I would use it to the extent that it would be connect to a door to an empty shed or other storage building 🙂 I don’t even like the idea of switching to the electronic door locks on our house or whole house wireless systems (security, lights, electronics, etc). They creep me out!
Nope…no way!
We will definitely not be using it! If you know you won’t be home that day, you can deliver the package to a family member or friend (or work if that is allowed).
This is very concerning . . . Would Amazon be the only one who could use it? What about thieves?
yikes!!!! I would NEVER do this! This sounds like the disadvantages would far outweigh the advantages.
I think this is a useful tool for some, and not so much for others. This service allows for more than just package delivery. It can allow for cleaning services, meal service delivery, pet care when on vacation, appliance services, plumbing, and other home repairs, and much more. You could always cover the camera when you’re at home. If you don’t feel safe with the camera when you’re not at home, how do you feel safe when you are at home? I would much rather someone rob me than harm my family, and all our homes are vulnerable to burglary. Locks don’t really stop most burglars. However, if you are at home most of the time, this service could be unnecessary. But if you are single or married and both spouses work full time, this service could be nice.
With technological advances, we are losing personal contact without meaning to. I know some people cannot do this, but why not ask a neighbor who may be home to look out for your package. With people on different work shifts and working from home, there should be someone around who could keep your package until you get home. We’ve had neighbors to ask us to do this, plus as part of our neighborhood watch program, we take note of someone going up to a neighbor’s house if we know that person is not normally home at that time.
Nope. Brave New World.
I would totally trust this. The camera is only on for a couple of minutes. The person leaving the package will be my regular UPS delivery guy who I trust like a brother and friend.
I will not voluntarily put a camera or a voice recognition device (Alexa) in my home. I agree with all previous comments about hacking and just plain creepy. I also feel that if you give an inch they will take a mile and it’s simply a gateway to forfeiting other rights. What is a choice now may become the norm later. I’ll vote by not using the service and won’t pay for Prime either. I’ll balance my life so I can drive to a store and do my own shopping and delivery.
This key concept of Amazon’s is a No brainer. It’s attempt to fix the problem of stolen packages only opens up a whole new host of potential problems. Making it worse in fact. Simple question. Which would you rather lose to a thief-the contents of a package or your home?
I have wondered for a long time why we can’t simply leave a message for the delivery person when we order items. For example, just a note asking them to leave packages behind a gate or fence that will be unlocked. The feeling i get is that the delivery people don’t have time to read a note for each delivery, but if they are willing to do this key thing, they should have ti e for this low tech solution!
In theory, I love the concept. But I do not trust enough to implement on so many levels. Front door delivery is becoming such a problem today with theft so I understand why Amazon is interested in this method. However, there is so much that can go wrong.
no, never. Remember the videos of the UPS driver pretending to deliver packages but actually stealing them? I’d rather lose a package than have my entire house robbed. In addition, these things will be electronically hacked, just like anything else.
No thank you!
I can’t even imagine this is something people want. I don’t know what I’d do if I lived somewhere where packages frequently went missing, but there’s no way it would be THIS!
Nope, nope and nope!
No way would I want someone to come into my house to deliver a package even if there was a camera. Also, I have a security system. Do I turn off my alarm when I hope they will deliver a package? Does the Amazon key turn the alarm off and on? I cannot believe they are offering this.
There have been multiple times that I was sitting on the living room couch and heard a quick knock on the door. Then without even time to get up from the couch a UPS driver opens the front door and puts a package inside the house. I’ve thought that was rude but never complained. Anyway, package deliverers putting something inside the house already happens here (granted, I was home though).
Wait, really? Is that normal in your area of the country? I would be totally freaked out if a UPS driver opened the front door like that, lol! That seems bizarre to me.
Whoa! I wonder if they do it out of habit sometimes without thinking, because they deliver to businesses all day and just walk in to drop off packages. So I wonder if, out of habit, they’ve just walked in your house, then later do a face-palm as they realize what they just did. I would be creeped out if that happened at my house though!
Back in the “good ole days” when I was a kid in the country (70s and 80s) the UPS guys would just open our front door (never locked) and put packages inside. We appreciated it. Our house was way out of sight of the road; I supposed they could have come in and made themselves a sandwich and who would have known! Or if my father was in town, and they saw his truck, they would stop and give him the package to save a trip out to the house.
This new service – doesen’t really bother me. No one has much privacy anymore. Just the fact that you are typing a comment on here proves that. But I doubt I would use it. Sounds like a hassle to use with the cameras, and checking videos, etc. If I had lots of valuable stuff delivered frequently I would set up some sort of dropbox location or something.
Nope, no thanks.
I’m sorry, but this is just going too far. I would never use this service. Crazy!
Personally, I feel badly for the Amazon deliver(-ers?) who will have to deliver these packages. No way would I feel comfortable with that. I have a feeling there will be pets getting loose by accident and lost items they’ll be unfairly blamed for taking. 🙁
I am not at all comfortable with that idea. I saw that Walmart was offering a similar delivery service. It just feels a little too invasive for me. Luckily for us our Amazon packages tend to get delivered around 7-8 at night so someone is always home.
This is a continued invasion of privacy under the guise of convenience. Alexa listens to and records everything we say and now amazon will have cameras in your home too. Scary times indeed!
Something my husband always talks about. How even our phones are hearing everything we are saying. We experienced it. One time we were talking about something and a product ad popped up on our phones next time we were on the internet.
Nichole, same here. We were talking about a book, I looked it up on Amazon, and it was the first search option. I tried looking up the book a few hours later, and it was no longer the first option. :-/
If I was worried about pkgs. being stolen off my porch, I would have them send to an Amazon lockbox at the nearby grocery store….but I’m usually home and have a porch that pkgs. can be hidden, plus neighbors that keep an eye out and report any suspicious activity on a local FB page….no use for it…
There is no way I’d use this. I have seen the way the Amazon delivery drivers around here drive and treat packages. Why would I want to give them access to my home to cause more damage to things? And even if there is a camera, what’s to say things won’t get stolen? Cameras can’t see everything from every angle.
We are lucky to live in a neighborhood where packages sit outside for days sometimes and no one bothers them. I know this isn’t the case for everyone. I just think this is setting up a much bigger problem than some stolen toilet paper or headphones…
I’m too afraid to even trust a housekeeping service. I’m not going to trust an Amazon courier!
There are so many negative events that could potentially occur. Getting hacked then robbed, to them letting your pets out, slipping on water left on the floor by your pet resulting in a lawsuit, increased invasion of privacy, etc…. Never in a million years would I consider it.
Not long ago I read that Wal-Mart was looking into something similar with groceries. They would deliver them and put them away for you. I get that these services would be convenient for some, but there are far too many less than reputable people out there and I don’t trust it.
No way! My husband works in IT Security. This is just one more thing that can be hacked and leave you vulnerable. And this one would give access into your physical home-not just your personal credit information.
It’s not for me!
“The one caveat is that, for now, Amazon only trusts its own delivery team to handle this work. So Amazon Key is only available in 37 cities across the US where Amazon Logistics handles the drop-off.”
This tells me that they are testing the idea, in cities. If the idea is truly as bad as it seems on the surface (as we commenters are all–so far–in agreement), it will show in their attempt to pull this off in more locations and with third-party couriers. Amazon has a lot of liability in this concept, and I would be surprised if it doesn’t just pare itself down to the home-security package WITHOUT the drop-off-inside option.
I live in the sticks, and this will never be an option for me, just like Amazon’s fresh grocery.
I don’t trust Amazon Logistics though. Most of the time, my packages wind up lost, damaged, or late if they are the delivery method. If I can’t trust them to get my package to my house, I certainly wouldn’t trust them enough to grant access.
I totally agree with you Samantha. The only time I have problems with deliveries are the ones by Amazon delivery people. Lost packages that never appear. (Just yesterday for example) I’ve been given 3 or 4 additional months of Prime because of issues.
And then there’s the Amazon guy that I had to stop from leaving a package in a horrible location for my neighbor. That guy had problems with a regular delivery. Allow him into my home…that’s a big no!
I would never use this. I’m uncomfortable with this on so many levels. We had an amazon package delivered to my house at 9:00 pm the other night! It scared me that someone was coming to our door at 9:00 pm – there’s no reason for that. If I had this type of service would they be able to ENTER my house that late?? Also – this service makes it really easy for people to case your house. They can see if you have a lot of valuables, might be able to get an idea of the layout of your house, get an idea of your schedule,, if you have digs, etc. they might not steal anything right then and there because of the camera – but they can be good at collecting information on your house to burglarize it later.
For give my French. I love Amazon, I do. When we were stationed overseas with no English TV and no English library, we kept them in business alone. But there is know way in you know what. And ya, aside from the security issue, I can just see one of my dogs escaping while they were delivering a package.
This makes me uncomfortable. But also I can see why they are thinking about this as so much is stolen and also ppl who steal identities often use vacant apartments as addresses. So something really needs to change. But going into an empty house is not the solution. And, haha, what about the pets in the house reacting to a stranger? Great way to get bit…
No way would I ever let someone into the house like that. Besides I have a large dog who would want to rip the delivery person apart. So nope – not ever happening.
Lock box on the porch is okay for smaller packages but if it’s a large or odd size one that wouldn’t even work.
I agree with previous commenters that I’d prefer a lock box on the porch, and also that I do appreciate their attempt at creative problem-solving. I realize stolen packages can be a problem but I wouldn’t personally be comfortable with or use this service.
I know this sounds kind of cooky… but i truly think that with Alexa and now this, they will be listening and seeing into every home, to gain more and more information that will make them a monopoly.
There is no such thing as privacy unless you are in a secluded area with no electricity or cell service.
I agree completely!!!
This was my first thought as well! I’d rather just purchase a PO Box and make the extra trip. I’m grateful I live in an apartment community that accepts packages at the management office so we don’t have to worry about theft!
That’s nice!
I don’t think I’d be comfortable with it but my son, who lives in an apartment building, is constantly having his packages stolen. It might be a good alternative in his case.
My guestion is how will they keep this hacker safe? I don’t think it is a horrible idea as many people have their packages swiped from their porch. I like that they are thinking outside the box but I personally wouldn’t use it.
Nope. Where we live (in the country), I’d rather leave my house unlocked than couriers than have the privacy invasion of everything being taped. But it’s not really an issue, since deliveries can just go on our porch.
As a mail carrier, this makes me quite uncomfortable.
I think it’s fine for some. If you travel a lot or are living somewhere temporarily (like a corporate apartment), it could be great. I think it creeps people out but you don’t *have* to use it.
I agree, I am not at all comfortable with the idea of someone being able to unlock my door when I’m not home. If people have figured out how to hack bank level security and there are credit card database breaches constantly, then someone will figure out how to hack this system, unlock my door without a package, AND turn off the computer. Too much risk just to have my package inside.
I agree!!
If it’s on the Wi-fi it’s vulnerable and hackable. I wouldn’t trust anyone I don’t know to be in my house without me or a family member in there.
This is crazy! No way would I use this service.
I don’t like the idea of someone going into my house with a package when I’m not home. I would prefer a lock box on the porch instead. I also don’t like the camera that would record all the times someone went through the front door.