Amazon's newest service will let delivery people drop off packages inside your house
Amazon wants to get inside your house — literally. To complement its smart home device, Alexa, the company announced Wednesday a new service for Prime users called Amazon Key, which will allow delivery people to actually drop off packages inside your home, The Verge reports.
Amazon Key works with another Amazon device, the Cloud Cam, plus a smart lock of your choosing. When a courier arrives with a delivery, he or she will scan the barcode on the package. If the package is at the correct home, the door will unlock and the Cloud Cam will start recording. The Prime customer will then receive a message confirming that the package was delivered, plus a video of the delivery taking place.
The service makes sense for anyone who has ever dealt with stolen, missing, or weather-damaged packages, or just wants the convenience of not having to carry another thing inside. But The Verge asks: "Will Prime customers trust Amazon to monitor their homes around the clock, and to know when it's okay to unlock their doors for a stranger?"
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Amazon Key isn't just for deliveries either. "[T]he company is hoping that you'll use Key when ordering stuff like dog walking or kitchen cleaning from its Amazon Home Services division," The Verge explains.
With a launch date of Nov. 8, a Cloud Cam, smart lock, and free installation bundle will cost $249.99, with individual cameras running $120. Watch The Verge break it down below. Jeva Lange
-
5 fairly vain cartoons about Vanity Fair’s interviews with Susie WilesCartoon Artists take on demolition derby, alcoholic personality, and more
-
Joanna Trollope: novelist who had a No. 1 bestseller with The Rector’s WifeIn the Spotlight Trollope found fame with intelligent novels about the dramas and dilemmas of modern women
-
Codeword: December 20, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
TikTok secures deal to remain in USSpeed Read ByteDance will form a US version of the popular video-sharing platform
-
Unemployment rate ticks up amid fall job lossesSpeed Read Data released by the Commerce Department indicates ‘one of the weakest American labor markets in years’
-
US mints final penny after 232-year runSpeed Read Production of the one-cent coin has ended
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
