Amazon will soon let customers get packages delivered in their garage
- Key by Amazon offers alternative ways to get Amazon packages delivered to home and business addresses and fight package theft.
- The service now offers the option to have a package delivered inside a customer's garage if they have a participating-brand smart door opener.
- This follows Amazon's launch of in-home delivery in 2017 and in-car delivery in 2018.
- Amazon is also launching a new lock that connects directly to WiFi and adding more Key functionality to the Ring app.
Amazon is giving customers another option for delivery inside their homes.
The company will soon offer a new option in its suite of delivery offerings: the garage. Customers will be able to choose their garage as a delivery option starting some time in the second quater of this year, the company announced on Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It is designed to keep packages safe from thieves and prying eyes.
The new service will work with customers' garage door openers if they are fitted with the smart MyQ technology. The standard is propriety tech developed by Chamberlain Group, the parent company of brands like LiftMaster, Chamberlain, Merlin, and Grifco. Customers also need to be Amazon Prime members.
"A self-contained extension of the home, the garage offers a convenient destination for delivery hurdles such as potential theft and missed deliveries. We are proud to collaborate with Amazon on this game-changing in-garage delivery initiative," Jeff Meredith, president and COO of CGI, said in a statement.
The new feature is part of Key by Amazon, which was formerly known as Amazon Key. It follows Amazon's launch of other Key delivery options: in-home delivery in 2017 and in-car delivery in 2018. They all work similarly: the delivery person goes through an Amazon app to verify the package is for the recipient at that exact geolocation, and the door opens to allow brief access.
When Amazon Key was first announced, some customers were skeptical due to security concerns. The garage could become a more tempting option in that it would not give the delivery person access to the entire house, and there is no need for additional hardware like Amazon's Key camera watching the door.
Amazon is also improving Key by releasing the first WiFi-enabled smart lock compatible with the service, called the Schlage Encode Smart Wi-Fi Deadbolt. The lock can connect directly to customers' internet connection without the need of a smart home hub.
Amazon is adding functionality to the Ring app for customers with Key-compatible locks to lock and unlock their doors, highlighting the fact that Key is about more than delivering packages. Amazon purchased Ring, a company that makes smart home doorbells and other gadgets, in 2017.
"For the past year, we've been thrilled to see how customers have benefited from Key by Amazon. We started with the idea of in-home package delivery and quickly learned that our customers found peace of mind and delight from the control Key gives them over their most important place - their homes - even when they aren't there themselves," Rohit Shrivastava, head of Key by Amazon, said in a statement.
Amazon has also developed a smart fob for Key for Business, the business delivery version of the program, so that delivery drivers can access residential or commercial buildings.