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THE DAILY NEWS

Daily News by Seiji Maekawa Issued 10/25/2017

Amazons Latest Way Into Your Life Is


Through the Front Door

For many online shoppers, packages often linger for distressingly long hours outside
their homes, where they can be stolen or soaked by rain. Now, if customers give it
permission, Amazons couriers will unlock the front doors and drop packages inside
when no one is home.

What could possibly go wrong? Amazons new service, Amazon Key, will
require customers to buy a kit that starts at
The head spins with the opportunities for $250 and includes a security camera made
mischief in letting a stranger into an empty by the company and a smart door lock
home. There are risks for couriers too made by Yale or Kwikset. When a delivery
whether its an attacking dog or an escaping comes to a customers door, the lock first
cat. To allay these concerns, Amazon is asking helps Amazon verify that the driver is at
customers to trust it buy a package of the correct address at the appropriate
technology including an internet-connected time. It then starts recording video and
smart lock and an indoor security camera. unlocks the door, capturing the entire visit.
Amazon is also offering the
camera, called Amazon Cloud
Cam, as a stand-alone product
for $120, significantly less than
other internet-connected
cameras.

Amazon says it will guarantee


protection for customers in the
event a driver damages or steals
something inside a home. It
suggests homeowners keep pets
PHOTO VIA ISTOCK.COM/JAHCOTTONTAIL143
away from front doors when
deliveries are expected. If drivers cant safely make deliveries,
theyll leave packages outside. The costs of
package theft arent
The company said Amazon Key will be available in 37 cities in the known Amazon,
United States starting Nov. 8 and open to its Prime members, who for example, will
pay $99 a year for fast shipping and other benefits. The system can not say but are
also be used to grant home access to other services, such as Merry probably
Maids, a housecleaning provider, and Rover.com, a dog-walking substantial.
site.

Customers told us they really want to understand and see


whats happening when deliveries are happening,
- CHARLIE TRITSCHLER, VICE PRESIDENT FOR AMAZON DEVICES

According to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults,

Americans are incorporating a wide range of digital tools


and platforms into their purchasing decisions and buying
habits. The survey finds that roughly eight-in-ten
Americans are now online shoppers: 79% have made an
online purchase of any type, while 51% have bought
something using a cellphone and 15% have made purchases
by following a link from social media sites. When the
Center first asked about online shopping in a June 2000
survey, just 22% of Americans had made a purchase online.
In other words, today nearly as many Americans have made
purchases directly through social media platforms as had
engaged in any type of online purchasing behavior 16 years
ago.
Even though property theft has been
on the decline for the last 5 years,
package theft has been on the rise. It
makes sense. As people do more of
their shopping online, there are more
packages being shipped, increasing
the opportunities for a crafty thief to
make off with one. Beyond this, many
of these packages contain really
valuable products. Cell phones,
tablets, laptops, and other devices make a high-value prize.

Luke Schoenfelder, the chief executive and co-founder of


If you were one of
Latch, the start-up working with Jet.com, said it has initially
23 million Americans
focused on installing smart locks on the front doors of
who has been the apartment buildings to allow deliveries to building lobbies,
victim of package rather than inside the apartments themselves. Allowing
theft, then youre couriers inside apartments has more risks, but Latch plans to
part of a growing eventually do that as well.
trend of package
It certainly has a lot more challenges, he said. Pets are the
theft.
biggest one.
- Mike Grabham
Still, he predicted that the strangeness of allowing companies
like Latch and Amazon to unlock front doors will go away as customers get more
accustomed to the services, in the same way they got more comfortable stepping into a
strangers car they had summoned with Uber or Lyft.

The world is absolutely going there, Mr. Schoenfelder said.

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