Not content to muscle its way into food retailing, marketing mammoth Walmart is testing a new food delivery service in Silicon Valley which not only lets you order online, but brings food to your door and – this is where I balk at the concept – allows the delivery guy into your house to put the food in your fridge…
Walmart’s new ‘remote’ delivery service lets the delivery guy right into your house
– into your very fridge! – when you’re not home… Not for me!
It’s a partnership with smart lock maker August Home whose products are just starting to make their dent in the market. The locks are internet/smartphone enabled and let you give one-time access to the delivery person to enter your home and unpack the goods. You can even watch the whole thing on your home security camera system, if that gives you greater confidence in the security of the program.
I for one, don’t want strangers in my home for any reason – especially when I’m not there. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I’ve seen it time and time again: Where an opportunity for larceny exists, someone will find a way to take advantage of it.
Another observation: Walmart makes no mention that it’s delivery people will be specially vetted. No mention of a police check, no mention of security bonding. I really do feel that people with the responsibility they’re giving these delivery guys should have pretty stringent vetting before Walmart asks customers to let them into their homes.
Here’s a biggie…
What if something untoward does happen in my house when the Walmart delivery guy is inside? Who is culpable? Who is responsible? Walmart, because they sent the guy and were negligent in hiring him? The guy, simply because he’s a crook? Me, because I willingly let a stranger into my house when I wasn’t there? The lawyers will argue the first case up, down and sideways and it will end up i n the Supreme court before an answer is codified in precedent.
And I just don’t like the idea of leaving access to my home up to the Internet, no matter how secure you say it is. The internet may be the biggest communications device ever created, but it’s also the leakiest and most prone to break-ins and spoofs. Not in my house, thanks!
Millennials will love it…
I guess the Millennials will love this because they crave immediate gratification, love their smart toys and would go to any lengths to avoid lifting a finger if they don’t have to. These are the same people who think nothing of exposing their personal information on the Internet and are being turned into the first generation of ‘entitled’ lazy, careless and dangerous drivers by all the new navigation, breaking and back-up assists in new cars these days. If they get heisted by some crooked Walmart delivery guy and his gang, maybe it serves them right.
~ Maggie J.