US - Amazon expanding Locker delivery service to Staples

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Amazon is getting ready to deploy its new delivery system throughout the country, courtesy of a newly minted partnership with Staples. The service allows users to ship their Amazon orders to a special kiosk that they can go to at their leisure, as opposed to being stuck at home waiting for a package.

Pretty much all people have experienced a circumstance where they missed the UPS guy and then had to trek all the way down to the local pickup facility to grab the package. Or even worse, waiting around at home all day only to see that the package was rescheduled for delivery the next day. Amazon Lockers — which were first introduced last year — eliminate all that hassle and have become increasingly popular in big cities like New York, where they currently reside in locations everywhere from grocery stores to parking garages.

It must be a big success because according to Reuters, Staples will now allow Amazon to take up some of its floor space to place the giant machines in their stores. Of course it would be ironic to see Amazon customers walking into a Staples store to pick up their ream of paper or printer ink for a lower price than Staples, but the brick-and-mortar retailer is no doubt expecting that at least a few users will decide to pick up some extra office supplies while they’re in the store.

Because of their limited size, Amazon Lockers cannot facilitate delivery of large items and they are not accessible if you buy something from a third-party seller on Amazon.

Based on survey questions that Amazon has sent to Amazon Locker customers, the retailer appears to be mulling other options for the physical kiosks including the ability to browse for and purchase products directly from the kiosk as well as utilizing it as a drop-off center for product returns.