7-Eleven Expands Locker Space, Hoping to Cash In on E-Commerce Wave

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Good thinking. If Radio Shack had thought of doing this....

Business | Logistics Report

7-Eleven Expands Locker Space, Hoping to Cash In on E-Commerce Wave

Customers in U.S., Canada, can pick up packages at more locations



7-Eleven, which pioneered the locker concept with Amazon in 2011, now has lockers with various partners in 200 stores across the U.S. and Canada, including this one in New York. Photo: Loretta Chao/The Wall Street Journal

By Loretta Chao
[e-mail]
@lorettachao

Nov. 12, 2015 6:08 a.m. ET

7-Eleven Inc. is making space for more lockers at a number of its North American stores, in a bet that growing e-commerce volumes will help drive Slurpee sales.

The company has added lockers where customers can pick up packages from FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc. over the last year, and announced in October that it would install Wal-Mart lockers in six locations in Toronto as well. The additions mark a significant expansion in scope of a program first piloted with Amazon.com Inc. in 2011. Now, any retailer that ships via UPS or FedEx has the lockers as a delivery option.

Customers in the U.S. and Canada who don’t want packages left on their doorsteps can arrange to have online orders from retailers delivered to lockers at 200 locations so far, which they open by scanning bar codes sent over email to their smartphones. The scan automatically opens the locker containing their purchase.

For retailers, locker solutions offer a potential salve for the logistical headaches that have come with surging online sales, including overtaxed distribution networks and escalating shipping costs. Wal-Mart, for example, can save on extra home delivery costs by dropping packages off directly at lockers using its own truck fleet. 7-Eleven has felt less of this pressure because much of its business comes from impulse purchases made in person. But executives say they had to find a way to stay relevant as an increasing number of consumers shop for groceries, personal grooming products and other convenience store staples online.

[NV Whino]

1. Ah, maybe the post office can start selling slurpies.

[Travis_0004]

2. Fedex and UPS can not deliver to a PO box

So there is a need for boxes outside of the post office to accept deliveries.

Plus, why pay for a PO box year round when you can have a one time use box when you need it. If this concept catches on there will probably be box closer than the post office as well.

[NV Whino]

3. Sorry if that came across as a negative statement

It wasn't meant that way. But as I'm thinking of it, having post boxes in a store is not a new idea. I've lived in a couple of places where the post office resided in a local store. The postmaster also sold milk, bread and potato chips. Or any other staple along with stamps and other postal needs.