While the benefit of Amazon’s Locker service remains unclear, 7-Elevens in the Northern Virginia suburbs outside of Washington, DC have started receiving walls of the package delivery/storage units. And, as you can see from the photograph I snapped, they’ve received something of a facelift since their Seattle launch (and compared to the spartan grey edifice displayed on Amazon’s FAQ). As Amazon describes the service:
Amazon Locker is a new and easy way to receive your Amazon packages. Amazon Lockers are self-service pick-up stations located in your neighborhood. When you ship Amazon orders to an Amazon Locker, you can pick up your packages at a time and place that’s convenient for you. Once your package is delivered to the Amazon Locker, you’ll receive an e-mail informing you that your package is available for pick-up. The e-mail will contain your unique pick-up code. At the location/address you will find a set of lockers, one of which will contain your package. Enter your pick-up code into the touch screen display and the locker with your package will open.
Amazon lists a mere 4 partner 7-11s in NoVA at this time. But there may be quite a few more coming online shortly… as the outpost I visited this AM in Fairfax is unlisted. In fact, only Seattle, New York, and London are currently identified as supported regions — so we’re obviously seeing something of a soft launch here in the capitol region.
(Thanks, Ricky Tan!)