Hub by Amazon has been around for about a year now. The company introduced its package delivery lockers for apartment dwellers with little fanfare, as it no doubt worked out some of the kinks in the process. This morning, it seems, the company is finally ready to officially announce the product, as it begins rolling service out across the country.
The whole thing isn’t too different from what Amazon’s offered for a while with its locker delivery locations. Here, however, the bins are located inside of apartment buildings, with access available through a key pad. The idea is to save people from having to wait for a delivery from building staff or adjust their hours so they can be home to greet the delivery person.
As a resident of an apartment building who regularly finds himself greeted with a missed delivery slip and a long line at the local post office, it’s an idea I can get behind. And honestly, I’m not a huge fan of entrusting front door (or car) access to Amazon — or anyone else for that matter. How well the whole thing will handle irregularly sized packages, on the other hand, is another question entirely.
What’s really interesting in this whole bit of news is that it’s not an Amazon-only deal. The company says it will work with “deliveries from any sender.” So, why go with Amazon versus numerous other companies that offer similar services? No doubt the price is right on this one. Amazon’s always done a great job undercutting the competition, and Hub will no doubt be any different. It’s also providing 24 hour support for the system.
The company says the service is already available to 500k residents, with “thousands more” gaining access to one every month.