Amazon starts taking pictures of customers’ front doors to confirm deliveries

Drivers can now prove a parcel has been dropped off.

Amazon drivers have started taking photos of customers’ front doors after dropping off a delivery.

To avoid any confusion over the whereabouts of a parcel, couriers snap a picture of where they left the package to let the customer know.

The photo is included in the notice of delivery received by shoppers so they know what time it arrived and where to look for it.

The service was introduced by the online retail giant to force drivers to prove they have delivered an item to a customer’s address and also to make the package less visible to would-be thieves.

Amazon said its Logistics Photo on Delivery is one of many delivery innovations it is currently working on to improve convenience for customers.

The Photo on Delivery program has existed for at least six months, but recently Amazon updated the delivery device and app used by delivery personnel in its Amazon Logistics delivery system — called Rabbit by drivers — so all Logistics drivers can take a photo.

For those who’d prefer not to have photos of their doors or shrubbery sent to them, customers can opt out of the service on the Amazon website under the help and customer service tab.

Last month, Amazon launched a delivery service for businesses, positioning it to compete directly with UPS and FedEx.

Third-party sellers on Amazon became the first to try out the new “Shipping with Amazon” service with customers in Los Angeles, according to The Wall Street Journal. The launch came on the heels of an earlier test in LA and a precursor in London.

The report states that Amazon’s ambitions are to expand to pick-ups at businesses that don’t sell on its website, as well as expand the Shipping with Amazon service to other places, like the 37 cities where it already delivers Amazon orders directly to customers.

Picture: Shutterstock