Safe delivery or risky delivery? Amazon's indoor delivery is questioned

Amazon is promoting its Key for Business service, which gives its delivery employees the opportunity to drop packages off at customers' foyer rather than at the door, which has helped reduce thefts and costs.

Amazon has been advancing the Business Key project

Amazon tried out a service in 2017 that would allow couriers to drop off packages in customers’ doorsteps when shoppers weren’t home, and Walmart followed suit soon after. Neither company has said how many people have opted in, but it’s safe to say both have been pushing the service recently.

In 2018, Amazon set its sights on apartment buildings and launched a business called Key for Business, where it contracts with landlords to install devices in their buildings that enable door-to-door delivery.

Amazon salespeople have been promoting the service across the country through door-to-door sales, cold calling, and contacting office building managers. Amazon has even partnered with local locksmiths to help spread the word. Amazon installs the device for free and sometimes offers $100 gift cards to entice customers to install it.

Amazon has installed the device in thousands of apartment buildings in the United States. It is reported that a round sticker with the Amazon smile logo will be affixed to the buzzer where the device is installed.

Amazon provides convenience while also addressing customer safety and privacy issues

Some landlords said they support Amazon's in-room delivery service and hope that Amazon can provide more services through this, such as taking away items that customers need to return or exchange, saving customers the trouble of going to the post office to mail them.

But Ashkan Soltani, a technology adviser to former U.S. President Barack Obama , said any device connected to the internet could be hacked, including Amazon's, and bad actors could use it to cause damage.

In response, Amazon said they would conduct background checks on couriers and that they would only be allowed to enter customers' homes through scanning when they had packages to deliver.

The editor believes that Amazon's move can indeed reduce the losses caused by package theft to a certain extent. However, customer safety and privacy issues must be taken seriously. While customers provide convenience to Amazon, Amazon must also ensure the safety of customers.

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