On Tuesday, Amazon expanded its service to allow delivery people to enter your garage and leave groceries ordered at Fresh and Whole Foods.
Amazon
Amazon is expanding its service to allow delivery people to drop off groceries in your garage.
The company announced Tuesday that the service is now available to all Prime members for whom grocery deliveries are available, or to more than 5,000 cities in the United States. Until now, some Prime members could take Amazon Fresh orders and drop Whole Foods deliveries in their garage, but only if they lived in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Seattle.
The offering is part of Amazon Key, the company’s service offering that allows delivery drivers to drop off parcels in garages, homes, cars and businesses.
Consumers need to purchase additional hardware in order to be able to drop off parcels or groceries in their home or garage. A smart lock and camera is required for home delivery, and a smart garage door opener is required for garage delivery.
Amazon offered these services to Prime members to protect their groceries or parcels from weather, damage, and theft. The services have also raised concerns about the prospect of giving a stranger access (even if limited access) to your home or garage.
Other retailers have experimented with the model, such as Walmart, which began testing grocery deliveries to a smart cooler on or near shoppers’ doorsteps in January.
Amazon expands garage grocery delivery as the coronavirus pandemic has pushed more consumers to order groceries online. The company’s online grocery sales tripled year over year in the second quarter of 2020 and continued to accelerate in the second half of last year.
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