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Amazon service allowing delivery drivers into homes begins in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If you live in Charlotte, Amazon will now deliver packages inside your home.

[ALSO READ: Amazon Key, delivery service that lets couriers into your home, met with skepticism]

The online retailer rolled out Key by Amazon to the Queen City Tuesday.

The shipping option allows a delivery driver to unlock an Internet-connected door and place a package inside.

Amazon is also offering packages to be delivered inside garages and certain General Motors and Volvo cars.

Officials said this option allows Prime members to have Amazon packages delivered securely inside their homes, garages, or vehicles.

A recent survey found 70 percent of people stay home to wait for their package.

And while this option allows someone to open a person’s garage door, many people told Channel 9 they think it’s a safer method.

“I think that's a great idea,” Amazon Prime member Betty Mackey said. “People see packages arriving. They see them before you do."

Amazon said Prime members can now ship items to their garage for free, but they must purchase technology that is compatible with their garage door.

Here’s how the company would deliver your package:

  • When you place an order, you select the 'free-in garage' delivery option.
  • At the time of delivery, the driver scans your package.
  • It will send a message to your phone and a signal to the amazon cloud to open the garage door.

Members can also pay more to get a camera to watch the driver place the package inside in real time or save the video and watch it later.

Mackey said she has concerns about privacy, especially since it’s new to Charlotte.

Amazon said it put the right safe guards in place to keep people safe and prevent workers from opening a garage door when they’re not supposed to.

“You know, it’s a new thing. You’re not used to giving anybody that much liberty, but if it’s for a good purpose and it cuts down on theft, that's a good thing,” Mackey said.

Amazon said it came up with the garage option after some customers didn’t want their packages delivered in their home because they had pets.

Cox Media Group

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