Keep your mitts off my front door, Amazon
After Amazon on Wednesday announced the launch of Amazon Key, a service that allows the company’s delivery people to unlock your door and place packages in your home, I started asking people online and in real life whether they would consider using it.
So far, I’ve found only one person who said he would be a customer. Most of the others responded with a “Not just no, but heck no!” ... or something coarser.
Amazon Key works like this:
• You buy a $250 kit from Amazon that includes an electronic door look and a webcam. You can install the hardware, or Amazon will arrange to have it installed for free. You also install an app on your smartphone or tablet.
• On delivery day, you receive a notification of a four-hour window for arrival. When the driver is near, you get an “arriving now” alert that will also let you watch the delivery happen.
• At the door, the delivery person is supposed to knock first and, not getting a response, use a handheld scanner to request entry. Amazon verifies that the package is destined for that specific location, and the door is unlocked.
• The driver places the package inside the door, closes it and requests that it be relocked. You then get another notification that the package has been delivered. If you like, you can watch a video recording of the process.
Amazon Key will be available in 37 cities when it formally starts up next month and, yes, Houston is one of them. It seeks to solve a common problem — the theft of packages from America’s front doors.
This is all in the name of con-
venience. But as is often the case, you typically sacrifice something to make another thing easier. Amazon Key is an intriguing idea, but here are four reasons it’s not a particularly good one.
1. Security. Let’s get the most obvious issue out of the way: This is a security nightmare. You are letting someone you don’t know gain access to the inside of your home while you are not there.
Yes, there is security footage capturing it, and both Amazon and the delivery company have a record of who that person is. And Amazon promises to make good in case something goes awry. In a frequently asked questions page on its site, Amazon touts an “Amazon Key Happiness Guarantee,” which includes this:
“We want you to have peace of mind when you use Amazon Key to receive in-home deliveries. If any Amazon Key in-home delivery was not completed to your satisfaction, or your product or property was damaged as a direct result of the delivery, we’ll work with you to correct the problem.”
Who’s making these deliveries? Amazon doesn’t necessarily specify the delivery companies by name, but says they are “some of the same professional drivers who you trust to deliver your Amazon orders today.” They are further described as “thoroughly vetted, with comprehensive background checks and motor vehicle records reviews.”
Even if they are professional drivers, you still don’t know them. They may or may not be Amazon employees (the company does have its own delivery service, Flex, which operates in Houston). Amazon may promise to make good, but as anyone who’s had a home break-in knows, it’s a traumatic experience that often leaves the victim feeling violated. If someone causes mayhem inside your house, will Amazon make good on that trauma?
2. Security systems. If you’ve got a security alarm system, Amazon’s solution for this issues is basic: Turn it off on deliv- ery day. Unless you can activate your alarm system remotely, that means it will be off all day, not just when Amazon is making its delivery.
It probably won’t be long before Amazon gets into the security business, possibly using its Alexa platform, which already works with smart-home devices. But until that day comes, you could be vulnerable any time you’re expecting an Amazon package.
3. Pets. Amazon flatout says that, if your pet has access to the front door, you should not use the service. Dogs don’t take kindly to strangers entering the home, and cats may try to bolt through an open door. Then again, Amazon also touts the joy of allowing pet sitters and dog walkers to access your home with the smart lock.
4. Cloud conundrums. In August, a company called Lockstate that makes Wi-Fi enabled smart locks sent a software update over the internet to some of its products already in use. Unfortunately, the update was sent to models for which it was not compatible, and it rendered the locks inoperable.
The only solution was to send part of the lock back for a manual update, which would take five to seven days, or wait for a new lock to be shipped out, which would take two weeks.
All kinds of things can go wrong with connected devices, including the possibility that the driver could unlock the door, but then not be able to re-lock it.
It will be interesting to see just how accepted Amazon Key becomes, and how many customers it will ultimately have.
I just know that I, and a lot of other people I know, won’t be among them.