
Amazon Key is Silicon Valley at its most out-of-touch - WhiteSource1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/10/25/amazon-key-is-silicon-valley-at-its-most-out-of-touch/?utm_term=.7a30a1e75a31
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ravenstine
Something a lot of people forget about with this service and Walmart's is how
beneficial they will be for the disabled. If I was housebound because of a
disability or had periods where I had limited mobility, I might buy
exclusively from Walmart and Amazon if they could bring products into.my home
and on to a table or fridge so I don't have to bend down. These services where
employees can enter your home don't have to appeal to everyone under the sun
for them to be successful.

~~~
ryanx435
disabled population is a tiny percentage of the overall population and isn't
large enough to drive a profitable business model at Amazon/Walmart scale.

~~~
blacksmith_tb
That depends on just what disability we're talking about, but the total for
the US is nearly 20% of the population[1]. Which seems like a sizable
potential market...

1:
[https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/miscellane...](https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/miscellaneous/cb12-134.html)

~~~
ryanx435
the kind of disability that needs help opening a door and bringing a package
inside.

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cocktailpeanuts
This article actually says more about the writer than Amazon or Silicon
Valley.

Silicon valley has ALWAYS been "out of touch". That's by definition, because
silicon valley builds stuff for innovators and early adopters in the
innovation adoption cycle.

But what's different nowadays though is some idiots who belong in the laggard
zone thinks they can judge the products that are barely at the innovator/early
adopter product cycle. And they happen to be journalists, or people with a lot
of followers on Twitter.

I guess the real takeaway here is that social media has brought us to a point
where the boundary among each of the phases in diffusion of innovation graph
has become blurry. Some people who definitely don't understand the technology
can easily bury a small startup that's trying hard to make it happen in the
early adopter zone by writing up some propaganda piece.

~~~
greedo
She's not trying to "bury a small startup" she's talking about the biggest
eCommerce company in the world.

And the idea that this critique is a new phenomena is silly. New tech has
always been criticized in media. Just because she disagrees with you doesn't
make her an "idiot" or a "laggard."

~~~
cocktailpeanuts
i was more talking about the startups she mentioned in the article, such as
Bodega.

Also I didn't say this type of critique is a new phenomenon.

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saidajigumi
Funny enough, I had pretty much the same skepticism as the author re: Amazon
Key. With IOT "security" scandals floating by seemingly daily, this feels like
a poor tradeoff.

_However,_ this product seems like a great opportunity for a small hack:
install the whole thing as a locker/bench/cabinet on your front porch. Almost
all of the convenience, and no increase in risk. In fact, I'm a touch
surprised that this isn't how the product was conceived and launched in the
first place: as a personal package locker.

~~~
EliRivers
One can replicate this in all but one respect already; I've a big box by the
door to put parcels in. It doesn't lock; you just open it and put the parcel
inside.

I expect it wouldn't work for everyone, but I'm yet to have anything stolen
from it in a decade or so or using this system.

~~~
ng12
Depends on where you live. I used to live in a pretty sleepy neighborhood that
had a huge problem with package theft, largely owing to having a middle school
on one side and a low-income neighborhood on the other.

~~~
EliRivers
Were the packages left in plain sight? In my experience (which, sure, is
anecdotal), people don't stop by my box every day to check if there's anything
inside it to steal.

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Rainymood
>Amazon Key is perhaps the most outre example of this phenomenon yet. Yes, I
do value convenient deliveries, but I value my security more — better to
strategize around postal schedules than be assaulted by a person hiding in
one’s home! And while I dislike rained-upon packages, I prioritize privacy
enough that I’m loath to install a corporate-controlled surveillance apparatus
inside my house.

>I prioritize privacy enough that I’m loath to install a corporate-controlled
surveillance apparatus inside my house.

I feel like this woman's logic is inconsistent here. I can understand that you
dont want a "corporate-controlled surveillance apparatus inside my house" but
then why you do you carry one in your bloody pocket?! I can, with some degree
of confidence, say that she owns a smartphone (probably an iPhone) which is
basically the same.

Personally, I think Amazon Key is really pushing the boundaries of tech and
making our lives better. If you have an Amazon camera pointed at your door
which the delivery guy KNOWS is being tracked by Amazon and his job is
literally to deliver the package safely which is also tracked etc. etc. For
this person to do something malicious the payoff should be rediculously high
(i.e. steal a Monet or something) because his livelihood (i.e. job/reputation)
depends on it. Now that I think of it, Amazon has the ID of the delivery
driver so if the driver passes any further than the front door Alexa can
basically (after a suitable warning) immediately call the police, no?

I, for one, welcome our new overlords.

~~~
ChrisBland
I think you are overestimating the need for the payoff to be ridiculously high
for someone to commit a crime. For that to work the criminal justice system
needs to follow through and charge and incarcerate the person. As an example,
here in Chicago if you are caught in a stolen car, you are given a ticket for
"Criminal Trespass", a misdemeanor(1). So, I would never ever sign up for
Amazon Key here in Chicago when our justice system does not punish those who
commit crimes like car theft, I have 0 faith in them charging or doing
anything if they stole something while in the house, even with it being on
camera. (1) source: [https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170913/near-west-
side/ridi...](https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170913/near-west-side/riding-
jeep-stolen-carjacking-2-charged-with-trespassing-after-crash)

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audleman
She doesn't make much of an argument for why this product is bad, just expects
us to follow along with her moral outrage.

~~~
choward
I agree. This article has no substance. What does this have to do with
Juicero? Amazon is trying to solve the problem of not being home when someone
attempts to deliver a package. She didn't even attempt to provide an
alternative solution to the problem.

She just claimed that it's dumb idea because some people like interacting with
people. Sure, that's fine. But I just bypassed a store to order something
online and not interact with people. Why would I have the desire to interact
with my delivery driver? I wouldn't. I just want my package delivered.

~~~
joezydeco
_I just want my package delivered_

...and not stolen off your doorstep. Happens in every neighborhood. Amazon's
tape and labeling all over the box isn't helping things, but that's another
issue.

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fasteddy
To be pedantic Amazon is based in Seattle which is not in Silicon Valley.

~~~
goo
I'm fascinated by the appropriation of the term "Silicon Valley" to represent
all of (a certain type of) technology. I think that the name alone will
contribute to the future primacy of the Bay Area in software.

It reminds me of this excellent scene in "The Founder", after Kroc has managed
to buy McDonald's and is conversing with its original founder:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FxHY-
vLMgs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FxHY-vLMgs)

s/McDonald/Silicon Valley -- makes for an interesting perspective.

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mankash666
All Amazon did was integrate with the better selling smart locks. Amazon.com
sales probably already provides the data to evaluate the feasibility of such a
service - high traction on smart locks among prime members. I don't think this
journalist has a clue about what's happening

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memracom
This is why the post office model is superior. The local post office receives
the parcel and keeps it safe until you come to pick it up. Nowadays (at least
in Canada) these post offices are colocated in pharmacies and other businesses
that can spare a bit of space and are open outside of 9-5 hours.

If a Fedex or UPS would buildup a network of similar business partnerships in
residential areas (or just rent some space in a shopping mall) then people
would use then in preference to this expensive key gimmick.

Why hasn't anyone ever thought of that before? Delivering goods to people in
their local shopping mall?

Maybe because Silicon Valley is hung up on disruption and replacement so they
never noticed that simply taking over existing businesses could be a lucrative
model.

~~~
dingsbumps
UPS (in the US, at least) does this with a program called UPS Access Points.
If you sign up on the UPS website, you can choose to have any UPS deliveries
addressed to you (from any merchant!) automatically redirected to a nearby
Access Point for pickup.

My local deli is an Access Point. Presumably they're getting paid by UPS for
their shelf space, where packages are stored until you come in to pick them
up.

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carlosdp
The comparison between Amazon Key and Bodega/Juceiro seems off. The latter, he
correctly states, do not solve problems average people actually have.

But Amazon Key, the author admits, solves a problem a lot of people have: who
the hell has the time to wait around in the middle of the day for a package to
arrive? We don't all have a stay-at-home husband/wife/partner that can do
that.

Now, the veracity of the idea of installing a security camera on your front
door that goes to Amazon's cloud is another thing, but that's in the same
conversation of whether having an Echo is a good idea.

I don't think this is a great example of Silicon Valley being out of touch,
this is just the author being big-brother conscious (which is valid).

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tedunangst
No mention that Walmart announced this first?

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/09/22/w...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/09/22/walmart-
wants-to-send-people-into-your-house-to-unpack-your-groceries-even-when-youre-
not-home/)

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RhysU
Doormen, of the human kind, are a most convenient convenience.

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dickbasedregex
Am I paranoid in thinking this might all just be a test to see how readily the
public might open their doors?

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cl0ne
Seattle isn't in Silicon Valley...

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aaron695
Word of the day of articles to ignore - Juicero

