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Comment by wehadfun | Hacker News Reader

Amazon should sell installable mailboxes that hold packages delivered by Amazon. Amazon can have the key to that.

Great for houses that you own, doesn't work as well for apartment/condo if you don't get the building itself to just put package lockers in the lobby.

My dream configuration is a guardhouse/lobby or something with package bays and a bathroom/drinks fridge/tv/wifi for delivery personnel. I'd love to give my UPS/FedEx/USPS/Uber/Lyft/etc. drivers a great place on their route to use the bathroom, take a break, potentially eat their lunch, etc. when delivering packages to me. Doing this as a business is easy, but it would probably work for a gated community or apartment complex, too.

Here in Japan it’s a common setup to have a box you leave an unlocked lock on that the delivery person locks and you have the spare key for https://item.rakuten.co.jp/yasuize/zk-tb-0533-01/?iasid=07_1...

What happens if there are more than 1 delivery in the day? Or if those darn kids down the street close the lock before the delivery person gets there?

Well, then tough luck. It doesn't have a solution for that. I had one of these boxes and this was never a problem though.

I like the concept, but I don't like the brand lock-in.

Plus I imagine for branding reasons these boxes would be highly visible and more visible than most packages would be.

You give me a subtle box that can be opened by UPS, FedEx, USPS, and Amazon Logistics and I'm game.

And please make them insulated. And I would prefer a rustic, vintage design. Here is a gallery to take inspiration from:

https://www.etsy.com/market/galvanized_milk_box

I'm only half kidding.. the amount of insulated packaging waste from when I had my Gobble (one of those cook-it-yourself food deliveries) subscription was one reason why I cancelled it.

The USPS will never allow it. Only USPS deliveries are allowed in any USPS receptacle.

Everyone except USPS then. I've been kicking around the idea myself. Something like a package box with a slide down ramp, so you can't pull anything out when delivering something new.

You can get one of these on Amazon.

A simple plastic/metal box with a lid and without a lock will give you 90% of the benefit - a would-be thief, unable to see whether you have any packages form the street, will move on to the next house that does have visible packages laying at the door.

You can order the box right now and have the setup ready by the end of the week https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JXRFFJM

I tried that, but the box was stolen off my doorstep.

How big was your box?

I'm pretty sure they do. I remember seeing something about community mailboxes Amazon was offering for this exact reason to apartment buildings and such.

They do, but it caters to commercial customers that would otherwise have to deal with the package volume generated by Amazon.

This wouldn't work for an individual that just wants a secure private box at their home for Amazon to deliver packages.

if you’re near to a whole foods you can get delivery there.

They do, they're called Amazon Lockers, https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=6442600011

That's sort of what DHL is doing in Germany: Instead of to an address, you can have packages delivered to a mailbox-as-a-service which is called "Packstation". Your package is stored in a drawer that you open with an ID card issued by DHL plus a TAN you get via SMS.

Amazon is more interested in lowering delivery costs, which means delivery density, and installable mailboxes per resident don't help here.

If Amazon provided the delivery box it could easily reduce costs. The delivery box could automatically open when the delivery person approached it, it could have transceivers to improve robotic delivery in the future, and it could be size-matched to what Amazon typically needs to deliver and order.

they do. apartments can buy them, for example.

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