Amazon Introduces "Amazon Key" In Home Delivery

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rgMekanic

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In a press release today, Amazon is introducing "Amazon Key" a service that lets couriers unlock your front door to deliver your packages. The new service exclusively for Prime members requires the Amazon Cloud Cam, and a smart lock for your front door. Amazon states "Each time a delivery driver requests access to a customer’s home, Amazon verifies that the correct driver is at the right address, at the intended time, through an encrypted authentication process. Once this process is successfully completed, Amazon Cloud Cam starts recording and the door is then unlocked." Prime members can pre-order the Amazon Key In-Home Kit for $249.99 if you're in one of the 37 launch cities.

I don't see how anything could go wrong with this... nope... this is fine. At least it's backed by "Amazon’s Happiness Guarantee." I don't know what "Amazon’s Happiness Guarantee" is, maybe it means they will make you feel all warm and fuzzy after the delivery person leaves your package at the front door and a floater in the bathroom before walking out with your TV.

"Amazon Key gives customers peace of mind knowing their orders have been safely delivered to their homes and are waiting for them when they walk through their doors," said Peter Larsen, Vice President of Delivery Technology, Amazon. "Now, Prime members can select in-home delivery and conveniently see their packages being delivered right from their mobile phones."
 
What kind of liability will Amazon take on with this? So say their delivery guy comes in and scopes out the house to see what kind of security they have in place. What of value they hand come back later with their buddies and Rob you blind. Amazon won't take responsibility for that cause there will be no proof their service lead to it. Even still what to stop some one from swiping a small valuable item the home owner left out? How can you prove their employee took. Not everyone has cameras setup in their homes to catch it. I don't see how the liability and issue this could potentially cause be worth it to Amazon.
 
Don't understand the fear here, sounds like a great idea. No more missed deliveries, ever again ever. Period.

I wouldn't ever expect an inside job, too much risk for the employee, and any 3rd party hoping to exploit the system would be better off with a traditional burglary. :cool:
 
vegeta535 said:
What kind of liability will Amazon take on with this? So say their delivery guy comes in and scopes out the house to see what kind of security they have in place. What of value they hand come back later with their buddies and Rob you blind. Amazon won't take responsibility for that cause there will be no proof their service lead to it. Even still what to stop some one from swiping a small valuable item the home owner left out? How can you prove their employee took. Not everyone has cameras setup in their homes to catch it. I don't see how the liability and issue this could potentially cause be worth it to Amazon.
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Why would they need to come in the house at all? All they have to do is open the door, put the package on the floor, and close the door. That doesn't require crossing the threshold.
 
Oddly enough, the same places where I could see this working, are the ones where I would be concerned about utilizing it. Cities like Boston, New York, and Seattle, where population densities make crimes like this easier to perpetrate, would benefit well from a more secure delivery method. I just don't know if this is it.

On a related note, we may start to see a new home trend in the secure foyer. Having an entryway separated from the rest of the home by a second doorway might make this a more lucrative, less invasive means of increased security.
 
spine said:
Don't understand the fear here, sounds like a great idea. No more missed deliveries, ever again ever. Period.

I wouldn't ever expect an inside job, too much risk for the employee, and any 3rd party hoping to exploit the system would be better off with a traditional burglary. :cool:
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"You serious clark"?.......You want a third party vendor to have a key to your house which they can come in and walk around your house while you aren't home and you don't have a problem with that? That's like living on a busy street and leaving your front door wide open when you go on vacation for a week. Its last line of privacy for you and your personal belongings........there are WAY to many creeps and dishonest folk that would take full advantage of the opportunity to case someone's house and just be a criminal.
 
What about the cat that *always* wants to get out? You'll have a nice recording of the delivery guy opening the door and... WHOOSH... the cat runs outside like lightning. Delivery guy closes the door and walks away. End video.
Here kitty kitty...
 
SomeoneElse said:
"You serious clark"?.......You want a third party vendor to have a key to your house which they can come in and walk around your house while you aren't home and you don't have a problem with that? That's like living on a busy street and leaving your front door wide open when you go on vacation for a week. Its last line of privacy for you and your personal belongings........there are WAY to many creeps and dishonest folk that would take full advantage of the opportunity to case someone's house and just be a criminal.
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Yes if they want to be immediately fired and likely prosecuted for it.

They'd get exactly the same amount of "casing the house" from knocking on your front door and you answering it. Do you never answer your front door because it might be a burglar there to see if you have any nice shit?
 
spugm1r3 said:
On a related note, we may start to see a new home trend in the secure foyer. Having an entryway separated from the rest of the home by a second doorway might make this a more lucrative, less invasive means of increased security.
Click to expand...

Only way I'd consider this is if I have a lockable enclosed front porch.
They could have access to the porch to leave the package, but not to the locked front door and the rest of the house.
 
I bet this will work out.
Azrak said:
What about the cat that *always* wants to get out? You'll have a nice recording of the delivery guy opening the door and... WHOOSH... the cat runs outside like lightning. Delivery guy closes the door and walks away. End video.
Here kitty kitty...
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That's part of the homeowners responsibility when they schedule for a package to get delivered to them. This obviously isn't for everyone. To many insecure mother fuckers think that because a small percent of the population will do something wrong the rest should be treated as if they're crooks.
 
spugm1r3 said:
On a related note, we may start to see a new home trend in the secure foyer. Having an entryway separated from the rest of the home by a second doorway might make this a more lucrative, less invasive means of increased security.
Click to expand...
Alternatively, if you're a burglar, why stand outside in the street / apartment corridor trying to jimmy a locked door when you could be inside the secure foyer, out of sight of any passers-by, trying to jimmy a locked door?
 
Lizard Testes said:
They'd get exactly the same amount of "casing the house" from knocking on your front door and you answering it. Do you never answer your front door because it might be a burglar there to see if you have any nice shit?
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My wife is home during the day, and she normally won't bother answering the door unless she's expecting someone.

I tell her that she needs to listen for someone opening the gate or looking in the back windows, since not answering the door could cause someone to casing the house.
 
Bawjaws said:
Alternatively, if you're a burglar, why stand outside in the street / apartment corridor trying to jimmy a locked door when you could be inside the secure foyer, out of sight of any passers-by, trying to jimmy a locked door?
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Because first you'd be standing outside in the street/apartment corridor trying to jimmy a locked door either way?
 
Lizard Testes said:
Yes if they want to be immediately fired and likely prosecuted for it.

They'd get exactly the same amount of "casing the house" from knocking on your front door and you answering it. Do you never answer your front door because it might be a burglar there to see if you have any nice shit?
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No actually they wouldn't. Because they wouldn't coming inside my house to be able to look around. Or even have the ability to unlock my door by remote....All these people thinking "ok let me give access to my house to some rando".....live in a naive world that nothing like that can happen to you. Obviously to each his own but I wouldn't considering doing this in a million years......
 
spugm1r3 said:
On a related note, we may start to see a new home trend in the secure foyer. Having an entryway separated from the rest of the home by a second doorway might make this a more lucrative, less invasive means of increased security.
Click to expand...

This has been exactly my thinking for a while now. At least in places where population density is a problem.
 
SomeoneElse said:
No actually they wouldn't. Because they wouldn't coming inside my house to be able to look around.
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Yes, actually they would, because literally all they're doing is opening the door and sliding the package into your house and closing the door. If they come inside and look around it's on camera and they're going to get fired.
 
spugm1r3 said:
Oddly enough, the same places where I could see this working, are the ones where I would be concerned about utilizing it. Cities like Boston, New York, and Seattle, where population densities make crimes like this easier to perpetrate, would benefit well from a more secure delivery method. I just don't know if this is it.

On a related note, we may start to see a new home trend in the secure foyer. Having an entryway separated from the rest of the home by a second doorway might make this a more lucrative, less invasive means of increased security.
Click to expand...

nutzo said:
Only way I'd consider this is if I have a lockable enclosed front porch.
They could have access to the porch to leave the package, but not to the locked front door and the rest of the house.
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I live in Oakland where this feature is semi needed but my building already beat them to the punch though. We have a foyer where all our packages go. Guess who doesn’t have a key? Amazon deliveries; and they always go in front of the building.
FedEx, UPS and USPS all have keys. Amazon deliveries is a pox in large cities. Works better in the suburbs with porches and less foot traffic.
 
rgMekanic said:
Wife orders something on Amazon.

Doesn't tell me about it.

Chilling on the couch when some asshoe randomly opens my locked front door.

3 weeks filling out the police reports and dealing with all that mess.
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Oh man, I didn't even contemplate that. For some reason I was only thinking of when nobody is home. I really think this will go sideways in a really bad way somewhere.
 
Lizard Testes said:
The cloud cam goes inside your home pointed at the front door so yes, everyone that has this system would have a camera setup to catch it.
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Just because a camera is setup to "watch" doesn't help stop someone for completing the fraud...... How many times has someone come home to a completely trashed house caught on a security camera? So they see it happen but nothing stopped it from happening. Then you have to report it and wait for something to happen, and what it they get off with someone invaluable to your family? This just opens up pandora's box of possible crimes......not to mention in the state of IL often time homeowners insurance won't cover "non-forced entry" robberies because the owner didn't secure their belongings.
 
Lizard Testes said:
Yes, actually they would, because literally all they're doing is opening the door and sliding the package into your house and closing the door. If they come inside and look around it's on camera and they're going to get fired.
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A guy who has unlocked door access would have free reign on my house or i'm at the door standing right freakin' there......your argument doesn't make sense. We aren't talking about honest people doing the right thing, we are talking dishonest people and the potential.
 
SomeoneElse said:
Just because a camera is setup to "watch" doesn't help stop someone for completing the fraud...... How many times has someone come home to a completely trashed house caught on a security camera? So they see it happen but nothing stopped it from happening. Then you have to report it and wait for something to happen, and what it they get off with someone invaluable to your family? This just opens up pandora's box of possible crimes......not to mention in the state of IL often time homeowners insurance won't cover "non-forced entry" robberies because the owner didn't secure their belongings.
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Another good point... We already have those pieces of shit that follow the trucks and steal packages. I can see a couple of robbers with masks waiting till the delivery person opening the door and then overpowering him/her a gaining full access to your house.

Damn. Maybe a lock box that doesn't contain access to your house is a better option.
 
DocFaustus said:
Damn. Maybe a lock box that doesn't contain access to your house is a better option.
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Indeed. Instead of buying this "kit" and installing an Amazon specific security camera, why not just add a lock-box on your porch, or even build one into the front of your house? (and still have a security cam pointed at it :D ) I really don't want ANYONE coming into my house while I'm not there.
 
rgMekanic said:
Wife orders something on Amazon.

Doesn't tell me about it.

Chilling on the couch when some asshoe randomly opens my locked front door.

3 weeks filling out the police reports and dealing with all that mess.
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Because they're going to knock\ring first. You'll probably get a notification on your phone to authorize it. This is an added delivery option if normal delivery fails.
 
rgMekanic said:
Wife orders something on Amazon.

Doesn't tell me about it.

Chilling on the couch when some asshoe randomly opens my locked front door.

3 weeks filling out the police reports and dealing with all that mess.
Click to expand...

Wow living in terror constantly must be fun!
 
SomeoneElse said:
A guy who has unlocked door access would have free reign on my house or i'm at the door standing right freakin' there......your argument doesn't make sense. We aren't talking about honest people doing the right thing, we are talking dishonest people and the potential.
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What we're actually talking about is someone being GUARANTEED fired from what I've heard is a pretty decent job on the off chance that he'll spot your Faberge egg collection and come back and steal it later, for which he would immediately be the prime suspect, if he weren't already being prosecuted for just wandering around your house without permission in the first place.

Of course it helps stop someone from committing the fraud. This isn't some rando breaking and entering. Amazon/Fedex/Whoever, and therefore the police, knows exactly who they are and you have video evidence showing exactly what they're doing.

You're paranoid.
 
It's useful for some. It's an optional service. If you have dogs, don't get it. If you have a cat that wants to run out, don't get it. If you're scared of the delivery guy/gal, don't get it.

Some people are fine with it. Especially with the camera monitoring the delivery. Yes, it could have some abuse (easier to case the place, etc.). But, there is a lot of risk for the delivery person as well.

Even if it's .01% abused, it'll still be a success. A lot of people will benefit from this.
 
DooLocsta said:
My dogs would have a huge problem with an uninvited guest making their way through my front door when I am not home.
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Obviously you'd need to shut the dogs in a room if you were expecting a delivery. I mean, that one's on you.
 
rgMekanic said:
I've heard that sad excuse for an argument for years, it doesn't work. Being prepared for a situation does not equal fear, if anything it makes one feel more secure.
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Why would you be filling out police reports for three weeks due to someone knocking on your door and then opening it and putting a package inside it?
 
Lizard Testes said:
What we're actually talking about is someone being GUARANTEED fired from what I've heard is a pretty decent job on the off chance that he'll spot your Faberge egg collection and come back and steal it later, for which he would immediately be the prime suspect, if he weren't already being prosecuted for just wandering around your house without permission in the first place.

Of course it helps stop someone from committing the fraud. This isn't some rando breaking and entering. Amazon/Fedex/Whoever, and therefore the police, knows exactly who they are and you have video evidence showing exactly what they're doing.

You're paranoid.
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Well apparently you live in utopia, where I leave there are shootings and robbery's and thefts, you know normal dealings of life in populated area's. I'm just not willing to give up my last place of privacy and the one absolute control of space I have. You my friend can have this crap, I and a few others will not. Like I said before to each his own.......but i for sure am not saying that everything i have suggested won't happen because we all know (those of us who aren't naive about the world) it will happen.
 
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