Lockers equipped with QR codes have been surging in number amid the novel coronavirus crisis, as customers can securely and quickly pick up deliveries with a scan of their smartphones without having to come into close contact with anyone.
A 42-year-old woman raising two daughters, 3 and 8, in Tokyo uses the food delivery app Cookpad Mart operated by recipe website Cookpad Inc.
"I can avoid purchasing things I don't need," she said. "I buy what I need when I need it, so the food is always fresh."
Under the app's system, foodstuffs ordered by 9 p.m. can be picked up from a designated locker from around noon the next day. The lockers have been placed at about 500 locations in Tokyo, Saitama, and Kanagawa prefectures, including convenience stores, drugstores and condominium buildings. The Cookpad Mart app has fresh food such as meat, fish and vegetables on offer and the minimum purchase is only one item. There is no delivery fee.
When a user's order is ready for pickup at a designated locker, a QR code is sent to their smartphone. To open the locker door, the user places the received QR code in front of a QR scanner on the locker. If confirmed, the door will unlock, allowing the user to access their order. To keep food fresh, the lockers are refrigerated.
The woman, who has deliveries sent to a locker near where she lives, said she uses the system at least three times a week instead of perusing through the supermarket with her kids in tow.
"Busy families tend to purchase a lot of stuff at one time," an official of the company said. "But this service is popular as it allows consumers to buy fresh products when they need them. The service was launched 2-1/2 years ago, but the number of users grew tenfold in the past year."
The official said the company has plans to increase the number of Cookpad Mart lockers.
Go-round sushi restaurant Sushiro has also been expanding its offerings into lockers at about 130 of its 580 restaurants nationwide.
After ordering and paying for sushi on the restaurant's official app, customers receive a QR code online. Just as with the Cookpad Mart system, the door of the locker containing the order opens once the QR code is placed near a QR reader attached to the locker.
To prevent food poisoning, the company has taken thorough measures to keep the lockers clean and control the lockers' temperatures.
"We initially introduced the system to reduce labor costs, but customers have given us feedback saying that [the lockers] are convenient as talking with staff is no longer a necessity and the products can be brought home straight away," said an official of Food & Life Companies Ltd., which operates Sushiro. "We will continue installing more lockers."
Locker delivery is not only being used for food products.
Lockers for prescription drug pickups have been installed in premises that major prescription pharmacy chain Qol Co., Ltd. shares with convenience stores. As long as online medical examinations and medication guidance are conducted beforehand by doctors and pharmacists, it is possible for users to buy prescription drugs completely non-face-to-face under the locker delivery system.
Currently, the drug lockers are available at two Tokyo locations. An official of the company said: "The service is often used by young people raising children. Some of them said that once they start using the lockers, they just can't stop."
-- Convenient for both sides
Tomoki Inoue, a senior researcher at the NLI Research Institute, said: "During the novel coronavirus pandemic, the locker system has been spreading not only as a way to avoid contact but also as a convenient way to receive purchases. Lockers may be used more in the future as they also help businesses cut labor costs.
"But it is important [that users] understand how the smartphone system works. A good idea would be to confirm in advance how to receive purchases if, for example, the smartphone malfunctions."
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