Around The Home

Walmart to trial delivery service that restocks your fridge

Walmart to trial delivery service that restocks your fridge
Would you trust this man in your home?
Would you trust this man in your home?
View 3 Images
Would you be comfortable with a Walmart employee wandering into your home and restocking your fridge?
1/3
Would you be comfortable with a Walmart employee wandering into your home and restocking your fridge? 
Walmart is trialing a delivery service where customers watch on from their phone via an integrated security camera system as the delivery person stocks their fridge
2/3
Walmart is trialing a delivery service where customers watch on from their phone via an integrated security camera system as the delivery person stocks their fridge
Would you trust this man in your home?
3/3
Would you trust this man in your home?
View gallery - 3 images

Would you be comfortable with a Walmart employee wandering into your home and restocking your fridge? What if you could watch on as they did it? The retail giant is at least looking to test out this possibly unnecessary concept through a new partnership with smart home security company August.

The idea of coming home from work to a fully-stocked fridge and pantry does sound nice, but a lot of people find not having strangers in their home nice too. In any case, Walmart is hoping that the advanced home monitoring technology from August will provide enough comfort and security for the residents of Silicon Valley taking part in the upcoming fridge/pantry delivery trial.

The service begins with the customer placing an order on Walmart's website. When the delivery person arrives and the smart doorbell goes unanswered, they can then infiltrate the residence by entering a one-time passcode into the August Smart Keypad, which is authorized beforehand by the customer.

As soon as the doorbell is rung the homeowner receives a smartphone notification informing them that the delivery is taking place. Form there, they can watch on from their phone via an integrated security camera system as the delivery person meanders around the home, assumedly not making off with the TV or any expensive jewelry.

So could such a thing become commonplace? Certainly not straight away, with Walmart conceding as much in its press release. But technology can have a way making the uncomfortable comfortable pretty quickly if it provides some extra convenience.

You can check out the promo video below.

Source: Walmart

Why the Future Could Mean Delivery Straight Into Your Fridge

View gallery - 3 images
3 comments
3 comments
hkmk23
I bet the villains are all lining up to become fridge stockers
MichaelOder
As with ride sharing services, the fact that the service providers will be known and tracked at all times should result in a very low incident rate and any that do occur should be swiftly detected.
I personally would have more concern about the privacy issue of having cameras throughout the interior of your home that are available online, but many do already, so maybe that is just me.
Daishi
@hkmk23 I guess I'm fortunate that so many people that I have met and known are actually decent human beings. I lived in a handful of small mostly low income towns on the east coast of the US and my parents and neighbors didn't even bother locking our doors. I've had numerous contractors and employees access my residence with no cameras or oversight without incident. I started locking my doors when I moved to a higher population area but still give lots of people access. I think the crime free poor rural towns I grew up in are strong evidence that crime has more to do with culture than income. If you have that little trust of the people around you maybe relocating somewhere with a less toxic and criminal culture would be beneficial.