If I understand it correctly, DHL has done something similar in Germany for at least ten years now.
It is OK - especially useful to be able to send away parcels in the middle of the night (the stations are used for both sending and collecting). Other than that, I ended up not using them much. Neighbors work better for accepting parcels. But I suppose for other people they are quite popular.
Ultimately I think DHL's play is to reduce the number of human powered post offices, so in the end Packstations will be a step backwards for user friendliness.
Regarding chronology, FWIW, this is a final year project for a group in a class of 2011. The concept would have been developed in summer and fall of 2010 and a prototype implemented in winter of 2011. First mentions of Amazon lockers are from late summer/early fall of 2011.
That's great, but does that matter much? This isn't academic research where novelty is the key. They are trying to build a business, and there is clearly good potential for a business in this area. And at the very least, it will be good to have competition in this space.
The argument is that Amazon controls 30% currently, so 70% is "fair game".
It's a pretty weak argument considering that Amazon has the infrastructure muscle out someone like Bufferbox, if there is no distinct competitive advantage for the startup.
[+] [-] Tichy|13 years ago|reply
It is OK - especially useful to be able to send away parcels in the middle of the night (the stations are used for both sending and collecting). Other than that, I ended up not using them much. Neighbors work better for accepting parcels. But I suppose for other people they are quite popular.
Ultimately I think DHL's play is to reduce the number of human powered post offices, so in the end Packstations will be a step backwards for user friendliness.
Edit: link to German DHL site about "Packstation" http://www.dhl.de/content/de/de/paket/privatkunden/packstati...
Edit 2: English Wikipedia says they started in 2001 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packstation
[+] [-] mbh|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jarek|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alexshye|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tsurantino|13 years ago|reply
It's a pretty weak argument considering that Amazon has the infrastructure muscle out someone like Bufferbox, if there is no distinct competitive advantage for the startup.
[+] [-] s_henry_paulson|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
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