You Can Track Your Amazon Delivery On A Map

Amazon is rolling out all sorts of features, but this latest one has me raising my eyebrows and concerned about some things.

By DAVID on April 25, 2018
(Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)

Amazon is really rolling out quite the shopping experience, aren’t they? First it was Prime 2-day delivery, then it was one day, now it’s within hours of ordering. They also offer in-home delivery, and announced yesterday, they’ll put packages in your trunk. And you can order basically anything you want. Clothes, food, shampoo, food, snacks (I’m hungry), batteries, lawn mowers – you name it, it probably can be an Amazon delivery. This latest feature lets you track your driver and your delivery, down to the city block, on a map.

See also: Amazon might be making robots to follow you around.

Gone are the days of cancelling plans or trying to leave the office early so you can take delivery of your fresh brown box. Remember when you had to order something and then wait by the front door, peering out the window, running outside every time you heard a big box truck on your street? You don’t even have to get up from your couch any more with Amazon’s new tracking feature. The Amazon delivery people have started using GPS – GPS that you can also view, seeing exactly where on their route they are. This lets you know when they’re getting close to your house, so you know when you need to jump up and get ready to answer the door.

Amazon gives you a notification saying that you can view your package on the map. Problem I see though is that it lets you view tracking when there are “fewer than 10 stops” remaining before your package is delivered. So, based on that fact, this means that you can see up to 10 stops the driver makes on a map. No. No no no. I don’t like this at all. No deal, nuh-uh, not me. Yes, I know waiting for a package you’re excited about makes the day drag on forever. Knowing exactly where your package is won’t make it get to you any sooner though (plus, how long does your delivery sit on your porch before you get home from work anyway?), and now everyone else on the driver’s route can see the driver stop at my house to drop off a package. I don’t like it. There are package thieves out there, folks, especially if you live closer to densely populated areas. I don’t need people ordering a box of paperclips or something just so they can track and make notes of all the places the driver stops before getting to them. Yeah, it’s convenient so that you don’t have to get off your couch, but now the thieves don’t have to either to see who has a package on their porch. Amazon, I’ll be making deliveries to my workplace or lockers from now on, thanks. Check out more details here.

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