Bontesla: I'll be curious to see what Google does with BufferBox. I've never had to send my packages to a temporary storage facility but I live in a fairly small town. I wonder if this sort of thing is more useful in large cities?

It's useful if you live in an apartment complex without a doorman. I've lived in plenty. There's no one there to sign for a package, and the delivery guy can't leave it outside your door. So he leaves you a note instead and you either have to take off work to get the package, or go to a Fedex/UPS facility or post office to pick it up.

Sadly, it wouldn't be a necessary service if people who live in apartment complexes weren't such raging assholes, but that's how it is.

It could also be useful for homeless people, as it gives them a fixed address to mail to, even if temporarily.

/so glad I don't live in an apartment anymore.

Biiiiiig Baaaaad Bufferbox!

... I hardly know her?

buffering buffering buffering buffering bufferbox!

Cool, they have a site walking distance from my home. This exact situation has irritated me for years. I'm surprised the courier companies haven't come up with something like this sooner. All the failed residential deliveries must be a huge source of waste for them.

So I guess the most common use for these are to order illegal things?

Fuggin Bizzy: Whatever Google was going to become ... it is. It's basically what Microsoft was in the mid-to-late nineties - highly profitable at a couple things, continually making vain attempts to expand elsewhere.



What a vain attempt to expand elsewhere may look like.

blipponaut: There is an internet outside of Amurika and much of it doesn't use Google.

Yes, we all use Altavista search and JitterBug phones.

I've had problems with delivery of packages--one was left in front of my door (and opened by somebody), another was shipped back to the UPS warehouse out in the burbs and I had to pay $5 to get it delivered to a local UPS retail outlet. Sometimes, when the package comes via Canada Post, I was able to pick it up easily enough because they deliver to a convenience store which is open more or less 24 hours, but with some companies shipping via UPS or the like, I couldn't be sure I'd get my packages.

I solved the problem, ironically, by renting a box at the UPS store in question. This means paying about $20 a month in addition to delivery charges by the Amazon sites, etc., but it has worked a bit better and is cheaper than renting a Canada Post box at a local store.

Bufferbox sounds like a good idea and I will look into their charges although I do not believe they do business here.

Having to pick up a package at the UPS warehouse is completely contrary to the purpose of sending packages by UPS, namely direct, convenient and fast delivery. I think they should automatically deliver to the nearest UPS office if you aren't at home.

I'm not altogether sure that I am not paying too much (but it is safer and reasonably convenient). If I could specify delivery by Canada Post I might not have to add a layer of cost to delivery. On the other hand, I might not be paying too much provided I order enough packages by mail to cover the extra $20 a month or so and buy enough items that are bargains or otherwise unobtainable in stores. I do buy a lot of things. The cost per item could be about $5.00 or so (I'm not sure as I haven't done the math precisely.)

Apartment buildings should have bigger mail boxes and big shippers should allow the customer to make alternative delivery arrangements via the post office and UPS or places like Bufferbox. UPS should not be charging you for delivery to a UPS store, even though they are, I believe, franchised. Some sort of deal to reduce the risks and costs of delivery when you are not able to stay home and pick up a package would be a good idea.

Maybe I should speak to the super about the delivery problems and see if this can be rectified in-house, so to speak. A small tip for package holding might be cheaper than UPS or Canada Post.

And Canada Post could really boost its profitability and survivability if it cooperated with the private companies or competited with them more vigourously to deliver small packages for people without cars or without concierge service. PPP (Public Private Partnerships) are all the rage although I suspect that most of them are good old fashioned "honest graft", especially in the UK and US, where political racketeering and graft has never been uncommon.

But if Google has thought of a completely private sector solution (combine sales and postal receiving services) it will either mean the end of the US and Canadian post offices, or else it will mean a new era of public-private redistribution of services.

I'd like to see Canada Post step up to bat on this because purely private solutions are often very expensive and don't reach places where the Government can (rural mailboxes are a case in point).

The Government made sure that roads, bus lines, railroads, air ports, electricity, mail delivery, radio, the internet and and many other services would be provided where big companies don't see enough profit, either by forcing the private profit people to operate at a loss or low margins, or by providing the services and goods directly through a Government operated company. In Canada, the Government even chose to compete in the gasoline retail sector, ostensibly to reduce the risk of collusion and price-fixing (which still happen temporarily until the fix collapses either because of price wars or other competitive factros).

FTFA: BufferBox is a Canadian start-up that offers temporary storage lockers for customers to receive shopping purchases when they are not able to receive the parcel delivery in person.

I can already see US law enforcement folks shaking their heads and wincing in pain. No way something like this can ever be abused by criminals. eBay gave everybody a place to fence their stolen goods. Now BufferBox gives you a temporary place to have your... questionable parcels... delivered and stored without you having to be there.