At last, a way to have home delivery without having to be home
The rise of e-commerce has been matched by a huge growth in home delivery. Even up to a few years ago, the arrival of a package at home was relatively exceptional event. Now, it is not surprising for several deliveries to arrive throughout the week, with all that entails in terms of making sure somebody is home to sign for them.
Amazon seems to be working on a way to solve the problem by using electronic devices that will open the front door or the garage for long enough to allow delivery. Apparently, the company is working with home automation companies like August or Garageio, with which it already has a relationship. Customers would have the choice of allowing entry for a package to be left at a specific moment or during a limited period of time, either inside the house or garage. The apps associated with these devices can monitor entry and exit, allowing for a relative degree of control, or even combine it with other devices such as Canary or Nest Cam, to monitor the delivery personally. There have also been experiments whereby delivery is made to the trunk of a parked vehicle that is opened remotely.
Obviously, this kind of approach to delivery is still far from widespread, and doubtless new methods will appear as the idea spreads and gains traction. Electronic locks are becoming relatively popular, for example, by owners of apartments rented out through Airbnb, allowing temporary access to the user via their smartphone, which can be disabled remotely when the holiday ends without having to physically drop off or pick up a key. Similarly, there are integrations with other popular domotic devices such as Amazon Echo or Apple HomeKit to open locks during certain periods of time or through voice command, meaning that one could arrive home and open the door just by saying, “honey I’m home.” Although in some cases, there are still a few teething problems to sort out… :-)
(En español, aquí)
