Amazon has launched a new service called Hub, which is a locker system that allows delivery people to drop off parcels for you even when you aren’t home.
The units currently start at six feet wide, and include a number of lockers with a touch screen embedded in the middle of the unit. Once your parcel has been delivered, you get a notification with a code. You put the code into The Hub and your locker panel will open revealing your delivery.
They appear to be similar to Amazon's existing parcel drop off stations which have been installed in a number of public locations in the UK and US.
What is interesting about the new service is that Amazon is allowing the locker to be used by any delivery service. According to the official site: “Accepting deliveries from all carriers, Hub by Amazon can free you and your staff from daily package management.”
From looking at the pictures, it does seem as though the units are the same as the ones being used in the Amazon Lockers service, which allows you to choose an Amazon Locker placed in a public location as your delivery option rather than your address, then works in the same way as Hub.
Standing tall
Given the size of Hub and the wording on the site, it is obviously a service that is tailored towards apartment blocks rather than individual properties. There are indoor and outdoor versions of Hub, with the outdoor version sitting at a hefty seven foot three inches tall.
The indoor version starts at six feet nine inches high, and just shy of two feet deep, with 42 compartments of differing sizes to cater for diverse parcel dimensions. There is an expander segment that is three feet wide that adds a further 23 compartments.
If we’re right and they are the same units as the Amazon Lockers, the units will be able to accommodate parcels with dimensions up to 42 cm x 35 cm x 32 cm, so you may still have to stay home to accept the delivery of that outdoor trampoline you ordered while drunkenly late-night shopping to make the pain go away.
At the moment it’s unclear who will cover the costs of Hub. There is the possibility that the building pays to install and maintain it, that other delivery services will pay for use of the unit, or that it will be a service the user has to pay for. We have contacted Amazon for clarification on this point.
- Want to order a delivery using your voice? Check out our Amazon Echo review
Source Hub by Amazon
