UPS tests an Amazon Key-style delivery program in New York using locks made by a startup, Latch; service works with the building, not individual apartment units
UPS has been quietly testing a program that lets the shipping service deliver packages inside multi-unit homes while occupants are out.
Context & Ripple Effects
In-building delivery has been assembling piece by piece: Amazon opened the category with the Key lock-and-camera bundle in late 2017, and smart-lock maker August followed with August Access via Deliv after testing with Walmart. Amazon also runs a parallel hardware track with Hub package lockers reaching over 500,000 people.
UPS entering through Latch matters because of where it cuts the problem: rather than unlocking individual units like Key or August Access, the pilot works at the building level, turning property access into the product. The bet paid off enough that UPS and Latch later took the service from SF and NYC toward 10 new US cities by mid-2019.
First-order effects
- New York multi-unit residents get packages delivered inside their buildings while out, and UPS gains a way to complete deliveries without failed attempts or lobby pileups.
- Latch converts its smart locks from tenant convenience devices into logistics infrastructure, giving the startup a B2B revenue line tied to every participating building.
Second-order effects
- Amazon faces a carrier-side competitor to Key For Business — UPS can pitch landlords on a system that works across all carriers' volume rather than locking them into Amazon's ecosystem.
- Building owners become the gatekeepers of last-mile delivery: whoever signs the access deal with a property controls which couriers reach tenants, making landlord partnerships a contested channel for both lock makers and carriers.
Third-order effects
- If building-level access becomes standard, the smart lock splits into two markets — consumer units sold to residents and access systems sold to property managers as delivery infrastructure — favoring startups like Latch that design for the latter.
- Carriers' willingness to enter homes and buildings pushes insurers, regulators, and landlords toward formal rules for courier access, liability, and recording, questions Amazon's Key rollout already raised and UPS now extends to third-party buildings.
The trend: Last-mile delivery is moving from doorstep drop-offs to negotiated physical access, with carriers and lock makers competing to own the building-entry layer.