new mailbox with online shopping in mind

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1607039/New-mailbox-with-online-shopping-in-mind

New mailbox with online shopping in mind
22 November 2011 | 05:49:20 PM | Source: AAP
Technology company TZ Ltd has unveiled what it hopes will help online shoppers avoid delays in getting their items delivered.

The company has launched a prototype for a new mailbox with a host of security and other technological features designed to store goods securely if the resident is not there to meet the courier or postman.

This would avoid having to make a trip to the post office to collect goods bought online, such as shoes, prescription medicines and electronic items.

Food deliveries could also be kept fresh under refrigeration.

TZ executive chairman Mark Bouris described the automated residential postboxes, called OurPAD, as something that could be the "postie's best friend".

Mr Bouris said the company would spend the next 12 months looking for a partner to bring it to market.

"The sort of partners you would talk to are organisations who would want to have a big say in the online environment," Mr Bouris told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.

"This is the smartest letterbox in the world. It's the most user-friendly letterbox in the world."

Mr Bouris said the technology was already being used in an apartment building in Chicago, as well as at one Australia Post office in each of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

The company also announced on Tuesday that Coles, which has been using the application for its "click and collect" refrigerated lockers trial in Melbourne, would expand the trial to other sites in Victoria, NSW and Queensland.

TZ closed down one cent at 40 cents.