Over the next few weeks in parts of the more salubrious areas of London, an experiment will take place which could have a dramatic impact on the UK's high streets. Containers, each about the size of the average fridge, will be placed outside 100 homes. These 'Bearboxes' allow retailers to deliver goods to your home even if you are not in, writes Jamie Doward .
Powered by solar panels, Bearboxes use mobile phone technology to register deliveries and then message you when the order has been fulfilled. The deliverer types in a pin number to open the Bearbox, places the items inside, and then types in another number to relock it. The device, which is fixed to the wall of the house to prevent theft, records the size of each delivery so you know how full the container is.
'This will allow people to download their shopping. People will use the high street stores to try things on but they don't need to visit the shops to order catfood on a regular basis,' said John Hale, a former manager with Vodafone, who says he got the idea after hearing his wife complain that she was never in to receive the large amounts of books she ordered over the internet.
Given that statistics show around 60 per cent of home deliveries end up at the local post office because the occupier is out, the makers of Bearbox believe they have solved a major problem facing consumers who order over the phone or the internet. Analysts at Forrester Research predict that by 2003 there will be two deliveries per household per week - thanks in part to the development of new delivery methods.
If the trials take off, Bearbox will look to offer customers the chance to buy the containers or hire them. The company is in talks with several technology and white-goods partners with a view to developing the containers on a mass scale.
Bearbox believes that businesses as well as consumers will be interested in the device - named after the cage used in US national parks to keep bears from raiding rubbish bins for food. 'Restaurants can have their early morning fish deliveries,' Hale said. Homeworkers who need to take delivery of large amounts of equipment or files will also want their companies to supply them with a Bearbox, he believes.
