Amazon has a new way to prevent thieves from stealing packages.
In early 2019, Amazon will offer to deliver packages right into your garage, the company announced Monday at CES. The service is called Key for Garage, and joins Amazon's Key for Home and Key for Car services.
Key for Garage, like Key for Home, requires some additional hardware. You'll need a $80 Chamberlain myQ Smart Garage Hub, which will let Amazon talk to your garage door opener so that it can be opened by a delivery person. Folks who already own that hub will be able to use it. You'll also need an Amazon Prime subscription if you want packages delivered inside your garage, but you can still open the garage remotely from the Amazon Key app even if you're not a Prime member.
Unlike Key for Home, you don't need a camera to record the delivery.
This method of delivery might be welcomed by people who didn't like Key for Home (previously simply known as Amazon Key), which didn't always work well if you had dogs at home, didn't want to let Amazon into your house, or had an alarm system.
Amazon has other Key news, too. Key for Business will provide drivers with smart key fobs that will allow them to drop packages off in commercial and residential areas where deliveries might otherwise have to be left on a front stoop or in an unsafe location. Several hundred properties have already signed on for Amazon Key for Business, the company told CNBC in a briefing.
