Amazon Pitches Lockers for Apartments to Help Declutter Lobbies

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. launched a new service this summer it pitches as a way to help bring order and security to the piles of delivered packages cluttering the lobbies of apartment buildings.

Called “Hub By Amazon,” the locker can accommodate packages from any major carrier, including United Parcel Service Inc., FedEx Corp. and the U.S. Postal Service. A modular unit measures about 7 feet by 7 feet and has 42 lockers in various sizes, accessible 24 hours a day.

The lockers are designed to prevent lobbies and mail rooms in multifamily housing units from getting overrun with packages. The units also secure packages so residents can get their items after hours when an apartment’s management office may be closed. Such lockers are becoming must-have amenities in apartment complexes as tenants shift more spending online and lack a convenient way to receive their purchases.

The “hub” service differs from Amazon Lockers, which are in public spaces such as 7-Eleven convenience stores and handle only Amazon packages. The lockers for apartments will be accessible only to residents. Amazon’s new service was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.

AvalonBay Communities Inc. will install the lockers at 100 properties over the next year and could expand beyond that, and Equity Residential is experimenting with the lockers at some of its properties. AvalonBay and Equity Residential are the two largest publicly traded apartment companies.

To contact the reporters on this story: Spencer Soper in Seattle at ssoper@bloomberg.net, Oshrat Carmiel in New York at ocarmiel1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Daniel Taub at dtaub@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack