Amazon launches "Instant Pickup" station & "HUB" for apartment buildings

Over the years, Amazon has entered many new businesses including shoes, diapers and today the retail grocery business. Each and every month, the "800 pound gorilla" seems to be interested in new opportunities and ways to provide their services to the consumers.

Mashable reports, that Amazon, the 800 pound technology giant is testing "Instant Pickup" stations for shoppers who can't wait for shipping.

The new program evolved out of Amazon's existing delivery system. The company already has lockers around the country that customers can set as their shipping address. Now Amazon Lockers near college campuses in Berkeley, California; College Park, Maryland; Columbus, Ohio; Boston, and Los Angeles are being outfitted with digital kiosks that allow visitors to pick up goods moments after they're ordered.

To make a purchase through Instant Pickup, Prime members can browse through the products available at their closest station through the Amazon app. Inventory varies, but it typically includes most of the essentials you'd find at a convenience store like snacks, drinks, and school supplies. Tech supplies like cables and headphones are also often in stock.

After you select the item you wish to buy, a barcode will pop up in the app. Holding the barcode beneath the onsite scanner will open a locker with your purchase inside. While the transaction does require you to leave the house, it maintains one key trait of online shopping: zero human interaction. Amazon's Director of Student Programs Ripley MacDonald told Mashable that that aspect is intentional. He said, "The original concept had a desk instead of these lockers, and the feedback they [the students] gave us was 'I don't want to talk to people, I want to do it on my phone.'"

Amazon shoppers who prefer the instant gratification of in-person purchases without the chit-chat at the cash register can keep an eye out for more Instant Pickup station popping up around the country. Lincoln Park, Chicago will be the experiment's next location, followed by more throughout the year.

The next latest innovation of Amazon was reported by the National Apartment Association, is launching its package locker solution called "The Hub", for apartment owners.

To access packages, residents will enter a pickup code onto a digital screen and a corresponding door with the package will open. The Hub will accept packages from all major retailers, but deliveries will be limited to apartment residents. The Hub comes in a variety of models, indoor and outdoor versions and three neutral colors.

The starter model is six-feet wide and 42 compartments. An expansion module can add 23 more compartments. "The modules link to each other to provide the right capacity for your property's needs," Amazon says on its website.

Amazon website emphasizes that the new service is a program that residents will be happy that it is available.

• Focus on your residents: accepting deliveries from all carriers, Hub by Amazon can free you and your staff from daily package management.
• Brought to you by Amazon: Self-service delivery and trusted customer support come together to create a solution you can count on.
• Configured for your property: Indoor and outdoor Hubs are available starting at 6' wide. Choose from 3 neutral colors that blend seamlessly with your property.

Amazon is not releasing pricing details, but is asking interested parties to sign up for more information. The online retailing giant has already inked agreements with some apartment firms. Amazon is installing its Hub system in at least 25 communities managed by FPI Management, according to Vanessa Siebern, a Vice President at FPI.

"What is exciting about the Amazon Hub is that you can place it anywhere in a community," Siebern says. "Before we would have had to pour concrete and make sure there was an enclosure for the lockers to be under, if we were doing an outdoor installation. With Amazon, we can put the lockers anywhere and we will be able to install them in multiple locations on the community."

Eventually, Amazon will also offer package-less returns and cold storage on site, according to Siebern. "With the Amazon partnership with Whole Foods, it makes a lot of sense to provide cold storage going forward, so residents can also have grocery delivery," she says.

Freedom from Packages

The proliferation of packages arriving in its leasing offices has tested FPI's onsite teams. At many sites the company has one staffer whose full-time job it is to check in packages and deliver them to residents.

"This allows us to focus on the operation of the buildings," Siebern says. "We just started talking to Amazon and we realized this partnership makes a lot of sense for our residents and ownership groups."

Victoria Cowart, CPM, the Vice President of Property Management at Darby Development Co., says the company is currently exploring package locker options and is curious about Amazon's entrance into the market.

"We want to get out of the package business," Cowart says. "It is not because it is too difficult to serve our clients. It is just not our forte and it is not what we do great."

Right now, Cowart says the apartment owner has packages piling up in its leasing offices, which is not an ideal solution.

"You walk in our offices that we've spent a lot of money to decorate and delivery people are just putting them underneath a credenza in our leasing space, right across from the assistant's desk, and it looks bad," she says. "I don't have the space for this, and I don't have the hours to provide packages on demand as the lockers do."