Amazon Lockers Coming to U.S. Staples Locations

[JMcEntegart]

No more missing the mail man!

Amazon Lockers Coming to U.S. Staples Locations : Read more

 

[burmese_dude]

My package was sent to 7-11 delivery locker. UPS tried to deliver twice but nobody was there to receive, so I couldn't go pick it up. I got sick and tired of it and reorder it to ship to home. I hope Staple locations work better.

 

[assasin32]

I am happy they are delivering to staples now. It be a nice change I don't like the idea of ordering valuable goods just for UPS to deliver it and leave it at my door when I won't be home for several more hours. I'd rather take the inconvience of driving to staples for those large orders for peace of mind.

 

[rosen380]

What would be extra neat is if the item is something that Staples carries, some arrangement for them to move one of their items from stock into the locker and then replace it with the item when it comes in from Amazon.

Amazon could save a little by using a slower shipping method and the item would be available to the consumer about as quickly as they can get to their Amazon locker.

 

[groveborn]

[citation][nom]rosen380[/nom]What would be extra neat is if the item is something that Staples carries, some arrangement for them to move one of their items from stock into the locker and then replace it with the item when it comes in from Amazon.Amazon could save a little by using a slower shipping method and the item would be available to the consumer about as quickly as they can get to their Amazon locker.[/citation]

That would require a fairly large change in the both companies do business. Staples uses a fully automated ordering system, no human involvement, except to ensure counts are accurate once a week (you know, to see what was stolen).
Amazon already has contracts with their provider which reduces the costs of shipping, changing that would actually end up costing them more per parcel.

 

[rosen380]

I'm suggesting more of Amazon borrowing from the local Staples store stock than Amazon buying from Staples for these.

Lets say you bought a printer cartridge that the Staples where your locker is has in stock and that you have Amazon Prime [next day shipping].

Rather than Amazon sending the cartridge out next day, they would send it standard shipping; Staples would take the item from their shelf and put it in your box. In a couple of days, the Amazon cartridge would arrive and end up on the Staples shelves.

The consumer gets faster service which may be a selling point in the Amazon lockers. More lockers sold might mean more general traffic in the stores and perhaps an increase in store sales to some degree?

I'm sure a very large percentage of items bought from Amazon stores are not in stock in all or most Staples locations, so any of those would be unchanged-- Amazon ships and those exact items end up in the lockers.

 

[blurr91]

I wonder if this will count as a "nexus" for Amazon for the purpose of collecting state sales tax. As many states are starved for money, they might want Amazon to collect money from their customers (like in California) and turn that over to the state. This can only happen when that company has a physical presence in that state...

 

[kinggraves]

What would be really amazing is if I could just drive to Staples and buy whatever items I needed without ever having to place an order through Amazon. I could just grab what I wanted and hand them some form of currency. They could call it 0-click shopping.

 

[rosen380]

What happens when that thing you wanted isn't something that they stock? Gonna drive around from store to store trying to find it? What if you need two of them and Staples only has one? Now you are going to make a second trip for the other one?

Sure you can browse their website and for a lot of big box stores find out what they do have on hand [or at least what their inventory system says they have]. But if you are already going on-line to find out where you can drive to to go get it might as well just do it through Amazon, no?



A typical Staples has maybe tens of thousands of unique items in stock...? Amazon has hundreds of thousands, or millions.

 

[george21546]

I thought the idea of ordering online was to eliminate the trip to the store.

 

[rosen380]

"This should be handy for those ordering gifts or those that work during the day and aren't around to accept delivery of packages. "