PUDO Inc unlocks the Amazon Key; great idea or way too scary?
The suggestion that consumers might concede privacy and security in exchange for convenience isn’t going over very well, according to independent researchers polling Americans about the innovative new ‘Amazon Key’, launched in select US markets just a few months ago.
Pre-launch buzz presumed that online retail giant Amazon, knew something about the collective American security psyche that we didn’t, but response to consumer polling suggests that consumers are indeed extremely cautious about allowing strangers, even uniformed ones, access to their homes.
A representative sample of more than 7,500 adults polled by SurveyMonkey, on behalf of Recode, returned not-so-surprising results with just 4% of Americans, and 5% of Amazon Prime subscribers polled reporting that they would buy into the Amazon Key program. See complete survey here.
The overarching idea behind the Amazon Key is to provide Amazon and its rapidly expanding global network of stakeholder partners – delivery personnel, dog walkers, household cleaners, repair persons, etc. – web-enabled remote access to millions of private residences and the lives and daily routines associated with them.
Whether the Key is a good idea whose time just hasn’t quite come, or a potentially ill-advised idea that puts way too much power and information in the hands of one massive, unregulated entity, remains to be seen.
The Amazon Key In-Home Kit sells for $250 USD to Amazon Prime members only, and consists of an Amazon Cloud Cam, an Amazon Key-compatible smart lock (to replace or supplement an existing stand-alone deadbolt), and the Amazon Key App to use on a Smartphone. The number of Amazon Prime members is estimated at 85 million, currently. That’s a huge number.
The premise is elegant and simple: install the lock, set-up the camera within 25-feet of the door, download the App, choose ‘FREE in-home delivery’ at checkout for eligible Prime items, then wait for delivery notification from Amazon driver’s App-linked device and watch the delivery in real time from anywhere in the world you happen to be, or watch it later.
The unlocking and locking of doors is designed to happen remotely, courtesy of Key network-enabled Amazon drivers. There is more to it of course, but such is the gist. Read the full Amazon Key story here.
Consumers on the younger end of the spectrum are by nature far less skeptical of online everything and will sign-up without hesitation, but even so, 52% of adults aged 18-29, among a sample of 2,021 American adults polled by Morning Consult, reported that they were uncomfortable with the idea of allowing delivery drivers access to their homes. Read the full report in Digital Trends.
Granted it is early days still for the Key, but already there have been confirmed incidents of bypassing or hacking the Key system – leaving private homes and their contents vulnerable to property and identity theft, vandalism, and other violations. Amazon reports that it has fixed the bugs and made the system as un-hackable and impenetrable as any web-based system can be. Great news for Key holders.
Naysayers and cyber security experts suggest that it is impossible to stay ahead of the security curve and that the only way to maintain dominion over private property is to do exactly that – ‘maintain dominion’, don’t share access on any web-based network, and share personal information as selectively as possible.
We can add to that, and suggest that consumers instead choose an alternate disruptive idea; a coast-to-coast pick-up/drop-off service like PUDO, where members control when and where they receive and return parcels, and whether in fact they disclose their home address on a web-based network at all.
For less than $3 per parcel, added to the free or regular delivery cost of merchandise purchased online, consumers could receive or return a PUDO Networked parcel every three days for a full year – at one or several of nearly a thousand of strategically located PUDO locations, without a single thought to risking privacy, personal safety, home security, or identity theft – before spending the $250 they would pay for the Amazon Key kit.
The real key is choice, and choice will determine how the ultra-congested and difficult to navigate last mile of the explosive e-commerce super highway will take shape. In all likelihood it will comprise of two or three distinctly different fulfillment and delivery models suited to consumers with disparate values and risk tolerance.
Time will tell whether Amazon’s innovative, if utopian idea will gain traction and widespread adoption. In fairness to unlikely utopian ideas – who imagined that jumping in a stranger’s private unmarked car instead of a cab would catch on like Uber did? But then again, 10-minutes on a public roadway in a licensed Lincoln driven by someone you can see, even reach out and touch, doesn’t quite equate with opening your home in absentia to someone you’ve never met. It doesn’t equate, not even remotely.
We’d love to know what you think. Community input from members and investors makes us better, so please drop us a line.
Have an awesome day!
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For more information, please visit www.pudoinc.com or www.pudopoint.com
About PUDO Inc.
Founded in 2015, PUDO Inc. is developing North America’s only “courier-neutral” parcel pick-up/drop-off network. No other company in North America offers staffed retail locations; open for extended hours, to receive consumer deliveries by any carrier. PUDO Points include convenience stores, gas station mini- marts, and grocery stores.
Through the PUDO Point network, consumers can control parcel deliveries – receiving online parcels wherever they want, whenever they want – a fully customizable and convenient method of delivery. When parcels arrive at the chosen PUDO Point, customers are automatically notified via text or email that their parcel has arrived and is ready for pick-up. E-commerce companies and other shippers utilizing PUDO can save on residential “last mile” delivery costs. Consumers can avoid the frustration and inconvenience of missed or stolen deliveries. The final destination of the parcel becomes the safe, staffed retail environment of a PUDO Point.
With a growing network of PUDO Point locations across the U.S. and Canada, PUDO is revolutionizing the North American parcel shipping model. PUDO was recently named one of the Top 20 most innovative public technology companies by the Canadian Innovation Exchange.
For further information about PUDO, please contact:
Karen Speight
1-506-694-1250,
karen.speight@pudopoint.com
SOURCE: PUDO Inc.
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