allheart55 (Cindy E)
Administrator
It’s not that UPS is ungrateful that all of us are shopping online so much and having items shipped to our homes. The problem is that making multiple stops in residential areas, dropping off only one package each time, is a lot less efficient than the business-to-business shipping that UPS was used to before Amazon Prime happened. That’s why the company is expanding its network of lockers, which allow 24-hour access to your packages without a delivery truck actually coming to your house.
Yes, pretty much like the Amazon Locker, but not limited to Amazon orders. The lockers are actually an expansion of the company’s Access Point program, where you can have your package redirected to a store near you. That’s handy if you live in a theft-prone area, or an apartment complex without an office for packages to be left, but it’s only useful as long as the store you’ve had your package sent to is open.
That’s why UPS had the idae to try setting up lockers: you’ll scan one of those “Sorry we missed you!” slips or a different barcode at a kiosk, and the door containing your package will open up. Some lockers are at 7-Eleven stores, which is a logical fit, and others will be at independent convenience stores.
UPS tested the program at a few sites in Chicago, and is now expanding it to the rest of Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington state. The company said that in the future, they’ll expand it to California, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Texas.
Source: consumerist
