Amazon is offering building managers $100 gift cards as an incentive to install 'Key' devices, which let delivery drivers get into the lobby at all hours

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Amazon is offering building managers $100 gift cards as an incentive to install 'Key' devices, which let delivery drivers get into the lobby at all hours
An Amazon worker carries packages. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
  • Amazon is on a sales drive to get buildings to install its 'Key for Business' devices, AP reports.
  • Key for Business lets drivers get into building lobbies without needing to get buzzed in.
  • Amazon is offering $100 gift cards and free installation as incentives to building managers, per AP.
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Amazon is trying to persuade building managers to install devices that would let delivery drivers get into lobbies without being buzzed in, the AP reports.

Amazon's "Key for Business" service installs a device on a building's front door that lets delivery drivers get inside. According to the AP, Amazon is currently on a major sales drive, sending staff to pitch the product to building managers by knocking on doors, cold-calling them, and even approaching them on the street.

AP reports Amazon salespeople have offered a $100 Amazon gift card as incentive for building managers, along with free installation. AP spoke to building managers about these offers - not all of them had agreed to have the Key for Business device installed.

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The e-commerce giant has reportedly also partnered with local locksmiths, so they can also sell the service to their customers.

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The idea of Key for Business is to reduce package theft - drivers can leave parcels inside locked lobbies even when there's no one to answer the door.

Amazon told the AP it had already installed Key for Business on thousands of buildings in the US, although it did not give an exact number. Amazon did not immediately reply when contacted by Insider.

Key for Business is one the services in Amazon's "Key" program. It first announced "Amazon Key" in 2017, which let drivers deliver parcels into a customer's home if they had a smart lock. In 2018, it expanded the feature so drivers could put packages in the trunks of customers' Volvo and GM model cars, and in 2019 it gave customers the option to have packages left inside their garages.

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