These are ugly things, and I'm sure that it wont be long before they are used for nefarious purposes.
So instead of going to the UPS offices to pick up the package for free, I instead go to one of these for a fee. I don't see the advantage, there are UPS locations everywhere and are easy enough to get to.
This just seems like an ugly solution to a not real problem, and with a WebVan like costly infrastructure before it's even remotely useful. There has to be enough of these ugly green boxes to be more convenient than the just going to the shipping depot, the cost to get to that point seems prohibitively high, after any significant number of boxes they will become targets for theft and vandalism too, another operations cost to deal with. Webvan revisited.
You seem to have a very myopic viewpoint, unable to see that just because you may not have a use for this, it couldn't possibly solve an actual problem. If you live in the city and don't have a car, getting packages can be a huge pain. I live in San Francisco, and would love a service like this. Packages can't be delivered to my apartment (the door opens onto a city street), and since I don't drive to work having packages delivered there can by annoying as well. If one of these were installed within a few blocks of me I would very happily use it.
>I don't see the advantage, there are UPS locations everywhere and are easy enough to get to.
You must not live in Canada, or any place that isn't super urban. Also, not everyone has a car. I can imagine myself using this if I lived in a dorm, especially far away from home (speaking out of experience).
On theft an vandalism, from what I see in their current installations, they're installed in busy areas inside train stations and school buildings. That's a lot better than hiding things under your door mat or tossing things over backyard fence.
Have you ever gone to UPS to pick up a package? I've tried before - I ended up just deciding to wait for redelivery. If you've ever lived in an apartment complex that's gated/closed, you miss a ton of packages.
There is also the receipt of packages while away on vacation, etc. Certainly not a huge market, but I don't think its fair to say this isn't a "real" problem.
So instead of going to the UPS offices to pick up the package for free, I instead go to one of these for a fee. I don't see the advantage, there are UPS locations everywhere and are easy enough to get to.
This just seems like an ugly solution to a not real problem, and with a WebVan like costly infrastructure before it's even remotely useful. There has to be enough of these ugly green boxes to be more convenient than the just going to the shipping depot, the cost to get to that point seems prohibitively high, after any significant number of boxes they will become targets for theft and vandalism too, another operations cost to deal with. Webvan revisited.