TE||Home runs
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导读
In-home deliveries
送货进门业务
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音乐| 精读 | 翻译 | 词组
Home runs
一“锁”打尽
本文英文部分选自经济学人Business版块
The chimney is not the only way to get stuff into homes in time for Christmas
烟囱不是圣诞节前往家里塞东西的唯一通道(还有送货进门服务)
AFTER staying at home one afternoon for a delivery of discounted toilet disinfectant that never came, Valentin Romanov, a Stockholm IT manager, installed a special lock on his flat’s entrance. When no one is in, deliverymen unlock the door and slip packages inside. Four months on, Mr. Romanov has doubled his spending online and says he cannot imagine life without in-home deliveries. These are sweet words for delivery firms and online retailers, Amazon included, that are setting up partnerships with lock manufacturers to overcome a big hurdle for e-commerce.
一天下午,斯德哥尔摩的一名IT经理,瓦伦丁洛马诺夫(Valentin Romanov)在家等待一个打折洁厕液快递,但是快递始终没有到达,于是他在公寓入口安装了一个特殊的锁。屋里没人的时候,快递员可以开门把包裹塞进去。四个月来,洛马诺夫先生的网购开销翻了一番,他说他不能想象没有送货进门服务的生活。这对于快递公司和亚马逊之类的网上零售商来说是喜讯,因为他们正在与锁具制造商建立合作伙伴关系,以克服电子商务面临的一个巨大障碍。
Conventional deliveries fail so often that a parcel is driven to a home an average of 1.5 times in the Nordic region, says Kenneth Verlage, head of business development at Post Nord, a logistics giant operating in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. It is an expensive inefficiency made worse, he says, by the fact that recipients have still often had to wait for a failed delivery. Some couriers leave packages on doorsteps, but this invites theft. Of 1,000 Americans surveyed this year byShorr, a packaging firm, nearly a third had been victims of “porch piracy”, as this is known. Two-fifths avoid certain online purchases for fear of it.
物流巨头Post Nord(瑞典邮政)业务范围涵盖丹麦、芬兰、挪威、瑞典。其业务拓展总监Kenneth Verlage指出,在北欧地区,传统快递经常投递失败,一个包裹平均需要投递1.5次。这样的低效成本很高,更糟的是,收件人常常仍需要等待一个失败的投递。一些快递员将包裹放在客户的家门口,造成了失窃。根据Shorr(某一包装公司)对1000名美国人做的调查,也如大家所知,今年有近三分之一的人成为了“门前盗窃”的受害者。其中,五分之二的人由于害怕再次遭窃,不再选择线上购物。
A number of firms now sell wirelessly connected locks which a courier’s delivery staff can open using a passcode or smartphone app after the resident has issued a temporary authorization , before leaving home or remotely. Deliveries are filmed with an indoor security camera paired with the lock. The short videos are sent to parcel addressees and typically end, comically in Mr. Romanov’s view, with a jiggle of the door handle from outside to show that the departing delivery person has locked up.
现在许多公司出售无线连接锁,住户离开家前或通过远程进行临时授权后,快递员即可使用密码或智能手机应用程序打开锁。快递过程被与锁相配套的室内安全摄像头一起拍摄下来。这些短小的视频被发送给包裹收件人,特别以从外面轻轻摇晃门把手作为结尾,以显示离开的送货员已经锁上门,罗曼诺夫觉得还挺滑稽。
Amazon began offering in-home deliveries in 37 American cities in November. Shoppers who have had a special lock and camera installed (costing$199) can select in-home delivery at checkout. Like most firms offering the service, Amazon is tightlipped about user numbers. The boss of August Home, as an Francisco maker of in-home delivery locks, says that already hundreds of thousands of delivery drivers, dog-walkers, cleaners and Airbnb guests use its app keylessly to enter others’ homes.
在十一月,亚马逊开始在美国的37个城市提供送货进门服务。已经安装了特殊门锁和摄像头(大约需花费199美金)的消费者可以在结账时选择送货进门。像大多数提供送货进门服务的公司一样,亚马逊对使用这项服务的用户数量守口如瓶。三藩市专门生产这种用于“送货进门”门锁制造商,August Home的老板认为已经有成千上万的配送司机、遛狗师、清洁工和爱彼迎客人使用这种无需实体钥匙的APP进入别人的家。
Offerings are multiplying. In 2018 August Home will go to Australia and Britain, and PostNord will launch in-home delivery in four Nordic countries. Walmart and Sears have tried it; Sears even tested unattended appliance repairs. Five logistics firms and two Swedish supermarket chains are trying or using locks from Glue, a firm based in Stockholm, for in-home deliveries.
以上服务供应正在成倍增长。2018年美国智能锁公司August Home计划将其业务拓展至澳大利亚和英国,同时物流公司PostNord也将在四个北欧国家推广“送货进门"服务。Walmart 和 Sears已经尝试过了,Sears甚至已经测试了无人值守的电器维修服务。目前已经有五家物流公司和两家瑞典的连锁超市正在试用 Glue(公司总部位于斯德哥尔摩)制造的智能门锁,用于“送货进门"服务。
PS:August Home创立于2012年,主要业务为智能硬件零售,其最有名的产品是可以用手机开锁的智能门锁。August Home在产品上还陆续更新了可连接wi-fi的智能猫眼、智能密码锁和门锁监控设备。
关于in-home deliveries(送货进门服务)
Amazon opens door to in-home deliveries
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001074816/en
Sceptics reckon these efforts will not amount to much. Plenty of consumers will be fearful about theft. Rhino Security Labs, a Seattle computer-security firm, claims it hacked into and shutoff the video in one Amazon lock-and-camera system. In-home deliveries are incompatible with burglar alarms. And what if an improperly fenced-off dog or cat slips outside? Or an heirloom on display gets knocked over? These are tricky questions. But e-commerce firms have un-locked harder ones.
怀疑论者认为,这些努力将不会有多大效果。许多消费者会担心盗窃问题。西雅图一家计算机安全公司犀牛安全实验室(Rhino Security Labs)声称,它侵入并关闭了一个亚马逊智能锁和云端摄像机系统中的视频。送货进门不仅与防盗报警器不相容,而且万一不小心被圈养的狗或猫溜了出去?又或者一件传家宝被撞倒了?这些都是棘手的问题了,然而电子商务公司已经开启了一些更难解决的问题(火上浇油)。
翻译组:
Tru,女,金融民工,经济学人粉丝
Denise,女,学生,翻译专业大三
Sybil,女,英专大四在读,Catti三级
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Vambie,女,互联网民工,经济学人粉丝
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观点 |评论|思考
仔细回想下以前快递基本是邮政垄断,所以包裹基本都要自己上邮局取,非常不方便。后来随着电子商务的发展,快递公司随之出现,并快速发展,从一开始的送货上门逐渐到现在,亚马逊等公司已经在推出送货进门服务了。具体主要是智能密码锁配合联网摄像头,快递员直接送货放到家里。
对于智能密码锁的应用,在国外已经非常普遍,尤其是很多做Airbnb房东的,用智能密码锁特别方便,客户定了房间,房东远程告知密码就好了,特别方便,而且主客双方可以不见面。与送货进门服务不同的是,送货进门进的基本是自己常住的房间,所以各方面隐私等会有影响。对于此项业务,文章一开始就说到:Amazon and other firms want people to trade a little privacy and security in return for online shopping ease。也就是为了这项便利,消费者需要牺牲一点点隐私和安全。
评论区有一条是这么说的:This is very interesting experiment. I guess that that the setup of temporary key and a camera is sufficient for the beginning. This arragement may also impose more background checks on the delivery personnel.
也就是说送货进门业务中很重要的一个环节是对快递员背景审查,这让小编联想到,曾经的代驾行业,每次饭店门口都有一些个人或者有一些小公司在做代驾这块业务,但是很多年以来一直不瘟不火,直到前年腾讯(滴滴代驾)介入,一下子代驾业务火了很多,仔细思考其中的逻辑,因为有腾讯做背书,腾讯对于上岗人员有审查,所以一旦出了问题(例如丢了东西,或者出了事故等),有据可查。
再回到送货进门这个问题,国内和国外的情况还是有很大区别的。
第一:国外人口相对少,居住相对分散,快递员通常开车送快递,如果遇到客户不在家,需要重新投递,成本高
第二:国外的诚信体系相对健全,一旦快递员偷客户东西,进入信用黑名单,很难翻身,而国内大家之间的信任度还不高,快递员的素质也是参次不齐,虽然现在也在建立相对应的信用体系,但这是一个非常漫长的过程。
第三:国内也有其他一些并行模式,比如社区便利店,经营模式有别于传统的便利店。现在的社区便利店很多都采用的互联网思维(有些甚至是BATJ直接入股的,受益于新零售这个概念),除了传统业务,也收发快递,即快递公司把件送到社区便利店,支付小部分费用,小区住户直接到店领取,这样可以解决很大一部分送货时人不在家的情况。另外还有进入小区的快递柜(例如丰巢,快鸟驿站等),几幢楼共享一个快递柜,小件商品收寄也是特别方便。
除此之外,一些特殊物品,比如昂贵的数码类产品,水果等,消费者都希望亲自开箱验收,一旦有破损等情况可以及时当着快递员的面联系卖家,否则出现纠纷很难解释清楚。再退一万步讲,即使信任问题解决了,我们都用上了智能密码锁和联网摄像头,但是万一没有网络了呢?万一硬盘坏了呢?万一云盘被黑了呢?红黄蓝事件的教训不能忘啊,所以小编认为送货进门业务的普及是一个漫长的过程。
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