Amazon Launches The Hub – Parcel Delivery Lockers
Reading Time: 3 minutes Amazon rolled out today a new service for multi-tenant residential locations called The Hub. The Hub is a parcel locker that can be used by any sender, including non-Amazon senders, and any delivery service to safely store packages at the recipient’s location.
No more worrying about the carrier dropping off a package that is visible to neighbors and visitors. The Hub takes over where USPS cluster mailboxes have fallen short.
Expansion of Amazon Lockers
The Hub is an expansion of Amazon Lockers that are already in use at over 2,000 locations nationwide. With the new residential locker service, recipients no longer have to find the nearest Amazon Locker, but merely go to The Hub locker in their building.
Each locker has a digital keypad that is used by the recipient to find deliveries stored in the unit and open the secure door.
The Hub locker system is modular starting at a length of 6 ft and a depth of 22 in. Indoor versions have a height of 7 ft 3 in and Outdoor units are 6 ft and 9 in tall.
From the starter unit, The Hub can be expanded by sections that are 3 ft wide. All compartments and layouts are pre-configured in the most popular locker sizes. There are currently no options to change those configurations.
Amazon even offers four neutral colors to blend into most property color schemes.
Installation by Application and Invitation Only
Building owners have to apply to have hubs installed in their buildings. Anyone can apply, but Amazon may not reach out to all applicants. So this seems to be an invitation-only solution at the moment.
When going through the application process, the web-based questionnaire asks if the applicant is the building owner or decision maker. It then offers several choices of buildings:
- Apartment complex with on-site management
- Condominium/HOA (with on-site management)
- Commercial office space (with on-site management)
- Single-family home
- Other
If the applicant chooses Single family home or if the applicant states they are not the building owner at the beginning, the application defaults to a screen indicating that the property does not meet the requirements.
All other applications go on to another screen asking more questions about the property or properties and getting contact information.
The curious part here is why to include “Single family home” in the choices. Is Amazon thinking about offering smaller parcel lockers on an individual basis sometime in the future? Alternatively, are they just weeding out the most obvious applicants?
No Information About Pricing
There is also no information available on pricing for The Hub. Since the lockers can be used by any sender and delivery company, one assumes there will be a leasing fee.
Amazon even states that building owners can save on labor costs dealing with parcel delivery storage and management.
To learn more about The Hub, you can go to Amazon’s landing page which also includes a short video.
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Richard Meldner
Richard is co-founder of eSeller365. He has over 17 years of experience on eBay which includes tens of thousands of sales to buyers in over 100 countries and even has experience with eBay’s VeRO program enforcing intellectual property rights for a former employer. And for about two years Richard sold products on Amazon using Amazon FBA in the US.
To “relax” from the daily business grind, for a few weekends a year, he also works for IMSA as a professional race official.