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Comment by dm2 | Hacker News Reader

The Amazon Lockers seem to only benefit Amazon because the shipping is much cheaper for them. If they offered a discount or credit for using the lockers then it could potentially be a useful service.

What is the benefit of using an Amazon Locker rather than shipping to your home? Maybe in neighborhoods that have a high stealing packages percentage.

The term lockers also imply (incorrectly) that they are supposed to be purchased by people for packages to be shipped to (like a PO box), the name might be hurting their success.

I can't find anywhere on any of the Amazon Locker pages where it lists a single benefit of using the lockers, http://www.amazon.com/b/?node=6442600011&ref=locker_fd_brws

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I think that shipping fees for amazon are much lower than prices offered for people at say ups. Offering half of that, wouldn't be attractive and will probably hurt the amazon brand.

They already offer (or use to) a credit if you choose standard shipping while being a prime member. The Subscribe & Save does something similar.

How much credit do they give ? And what's the difference between services ?

It was $1 when I saw it, the link below says it's now $3. It's a credit for Amazon movies/music though, so it doesn't actually cost Amazon $3.

http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-no-rush-delivery-2012-...

From my experience the difference is that they delay shipping your item. They claim to have one of the best shipping and handling systems in the world but for some reason they save money by delaying boxing an order for a week, it doesn't really make sense to me. I think they're really just trying to get people to purchase Prime.

I'm sure that there's an aspect of what you say at work, but I can also imagine that they have a certain amount of "pick and pack" capacity at their fulfillment centers.

By choosing 2-day, you're forcing Amazon to pick and pack that order today probably, tomorrow at the very latest.

By choosing "no rush", you allow them flexibility to fulfill from a wide variety of centers, on a wide variety of days. Maybe there's a weekly cycle in order volume and no rush orders may allow them to even that out with a more constant labor force.

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