Why You Can Trust CNET Amazon creates Amazon Hub brand for locker, pickup point services
Several of these services get renamed as part of the change.
An Apartment Locker location, renamed from a Hub by Amazon location.
Amazon on Tuesday said it created a new global name -- Amazon Hub -- for its many lockers and pickup services.
Hub includes Locker, the company's self-service pickup and return kiosks that first came out in 2011. There are also staffed pickup and return spots, many at college campuses. Those have been renamed Locker+, from Campus and Amazon pickup locations. Also part of the group is Apartment Locker, which comprises delivery lockers for apartment complexes, renamed from Hub by Amazon.
Last, Amazon on Tuesday added the new service Counter in the UK and Italy, which is now also part of Hub. Counter allows customers to order goods online and then pick them up at nearby retailers and convenience stores.
The name changes may help simplify customers' understanding of all these different services and point to Amazon's continued work expanding these services. Building up more Hub locations could encourage customers to buy more from Amazon by giving them secure places to pick up their packages and make it easier to make returns.
An Amazon spokesperson said the name changes and new umbrella Hub brand are part of its continual work to evaluate its services for customers.
After launching the apartment lockers in 2017, Amazon last year said they were available to 500,000 US residents. Amazon has already built out more than 2,800 self-service lockers around the US.
Amazon this year expanded its partnership with Kohl's, allowing customers to make returns at any of the retailer's stores.
