
Amazon opens 'Instant Pickup' points in US brick-and-mortar push - pestkranker
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/15/amazon-opens-instant-pickup-points-in-us-brick-and-mortar-push.html
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wlesieutre
Article doesn't mention this, but a big selling point is painless returns.
Just drop stuff off and get your money back.

IMO that makes them a much more attractive option for items like clothes that
might not fit.

EDIT: I might be wrong here, I assumed it was talking about Amazon locations
like the one that recently opened up in my hometown, but that's "Pickup
Point", this is "Instant Pickup".

Pickup Points do 1-day delivery and easy returns, I don't think you even need
a Prime membership.

Not clear from the article if Instant Pickup locations offer those services
too or if they're only for stocking common items with fast availability.

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shostack
Wait, there are easy return locations for Amazon? Do I have to deal with
packaging? I honestly hate having to keep old boxes around on the off chance
I'll need to return something, so that would be a nice change.

Honestly my biggest use case is furniture. Stores in the Bay Area are too
small to hold a decent showroom selection because real estate is so expensive
so everything is online. But they want insane fees to ship and return which I
refuse to pay because I'm not paying $50+ to find out the photo was deceptive
and the furniture build quality is crap, or the color is nothing like online.

Being able to buy online, pickup from store or have delivered to home and then
free returns at a store location would be great. Right now I'm mostly limited
to Target and BB&B with those criteria which stinks.

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wlesieutre
Here's what I found:

> Can I return items at Amazon@StateCollege?

> Yes, we accept returns of most items that were sold by Amazon.com. You can
> print your return label at home or use our self-service kiosk to print a
> label for your return. Select ‘Returns’ on the main screen to find options
> for starting or continuing a return process. If you need a box or tape, we
> are happy to provide them.

> Can I return anything at Amazon@StateCollege?

> No. We only accept Amazon returns with prepaid mailing labels.

I thought it was more clear than that on taking returns, but now I'm not sure
what they're willing to provide prepaid return labels for.

[https://www.amazon.com/gp/campus?campusId=CAMPUS_PSU](https://www.amazon.com/gp/campus?campusId=CAMPUS_PSU)

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mintplant
I believe there are a number of entrenched players in this space already.
They're called "shops".

~~~
bks
Except for my number 1 issue with shops...there is no way to check the
inventory before you go. Their websites often suck at the store level
inventory and if you do call customer care - and they do happen to send
someone back to check it can take 10 minutes to find out if they have it, not
just in their system - but on the shelf.

The elegance of Amazon is its logistics.

~~~
m-j-fox
Don't forget wandering aisles looking for the Chromecast Fry's helpfully
stocks in the back corner of the car radio department.

~~~
jvolkman
> Chromecast

Hah. You'll be looking for a lot longer at any of Amazon's stores.

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rsynnott
Some sort of mutant combination of a parcel locker service and Argos, by the
look of it. Is there any US equivalent of Argos, actually?

(Argos is a shop where you choose the stuff you want from a catalog, type its
product number into a machine, and collect it from a counter a few minutes
after).

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Johnny555
The USA used to have "Service Merchandise" [1], which was a similar concept --
it was a "catalog showroom", you'd walk the isles, find the product you wanted
and write down the code and then after you check out, you'd wait for your
product to appear on a conveyer belt from the warehouse. They went out of
business in the early 2000's.

I don't know of any similar stores that are still in business.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Merchandise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Merchandise)

~~~
peter303
Ikea

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rsynnott
Ikea's a bit different, in that you collect the items yourself in a warehouse,
and it's mostly furniture-centric. Argos is more like a small Amazon in a
building; they sell all sorts of stuff.

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sixo
I feel like there's room in the world for a kind of locally-owned-but-Amazon-
franchised brick-and-mortar store. It would probably be named, advertised, etc
w/o oversight from amazon, and pick their niche and character in the local
market, etc, but source supply from Amazon's network and additionally play the
part of a pickup/dropoff site for local deliveries. This is assuming Amazon
could trade off some of their margin for the batching of goods (for the shop)
and the oversight of their pickup site.

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maddyboo
Here's [1] the official press release from Amazon.

Not sure what's up with the weird URL, I got there from Amazon's `About` page.

1: [http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-
ne...](http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-
newsArticle&ID=2293961)

~~~
toomuchtodo
Corporate press release site.

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slackoverflower
This is pretty genius. Back at college, the regular USPS office looked like an
Amazon branded post office. Almost all boxes had the distinct blue tape with
the Amazon Prime logo. College students, though broke, love to impulse buy.
Amazing move by Amazon.

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mpcovcd
It's interesting to see a lot of recent innovations from Amazon are going back
to brick and mortar (Whole Foods, Amazon Go, Amazon Bookstore, etc).

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chiph
Why are the items in Amazon boxes? That's waste.

~~~
wccrawford
Because nobody has any business knowing that you're buying a new dildo.

~~~
chiph
The units are stocked with commonly sold items - like phone chargers. So I
suppose it's possible that dildo sales in an area are frequent enough to
justify their being in there...

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RandalSchwartz
"You'll recognize them because they're labeled with 'Whole Foods'". :)

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losteverything
First impression was the automat ... people quickly refilling the doors.

Are there any left?

