WeChat ID translationtips Intro 中国日报网翻吧研究英语学习和翻译中的一切问题。 AFTER staying at home one afternoon for a delivery of discounted toilet disinfectant that never came, Valentin Romanov, a Stockholm IT manager, installed a special lock on his flat’s entrance. When no one is in, deliverymen unlock the door and slip packages inside. Four months on, Mr Romanov has doubled his spending online and says he cannot imagine life without in-home deliveries. These are sweet words for delivery firms and online retailers, Amazon included, that are setting up partnerships with lock manufacturers to overcome a big hurdle for e-commerce. 在等了一下午的打折马桶消毒液的快递无果后，斯德哥尔摩的一位IT经理瓦伦丁·罗曼诺夫(Valentin Romanov)在公寓的入口处安装了一个特殊的锁：当没人在家时，快递自行打开门，把包裹放进去。四个月过去了，罗曼诺夫在网购开销翻了一倍，并说无法想象没有送货上门的生活。这些都是快递公司和在线零售商(包括亚马逊)想要听到的甜言蜜语——它们正在与智能门锁制造商合作，解决电商面临的一个大难题。 Conventional deliveries fail so often that a parcel is driven to a home an average of 1.5 times in the Nordic region, says Kenneth Verlage, head of business development at PostNord, a logistics giant operating in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. It is an expensive inefficiency made worse, he says, by the fact that recipients have still often had to wait for a failed delivery. Some couriers leave packages on doorsteps, but this invites theft. Of 1,000 Americans surveyed this year by Shorr, a packaging firm, nearly a third had been victims of “porch piracy”, as this is known. Two-fifths avoid certain online purchases for fear of it. 横跨丹麦、芬兰、挪威和瑞典的物流巨头PostNord的业务发展负责肯尼斯·弗拉格(Kenneth Verlage)称，传统的配送方式常常无人接收，在北欧地区，一个包裹平均要配送1.5次。他表示，这种低效造成成本高启，而更糟的是，消费者往往等不到快递来。一些快递把包裹放在门口，会引起小偷的觊觎。在今年由包装公司Shorr调查的1000名美国人中，近三分之一遭遇了所谓的“门廊盗窃”。五分之二的人因为害怕被盗而拒绝网上购物。 A number of firms now sell wirelessly connected locks which a courier’s delivery staff can open using a passcode or smartphone app after the resident has issued a temporary authorisation, before leaving home or remotely. Deliveries are filmed with an indoor security camera paired with the lock. The short videos are sent to parcel addressees and typically end, comically in Mr Romanov’s view, with a jiggle of the door handle from outside to show that the departing delivery person has locked up. 许多公司现出售无线锁。在业主出门前或不在家的时候给人上监时授权，快递员就可以通过密码或手机应用开门。与智能门锁配套的室内安全摄像头能拍下整个快递过程，并将视频发送给收件人，而在罗曼诺夫看来，当门外的把手轻轻一摇时，就表示快递员锁门离开了。 Amazon began offering in-home deliveries in 37 American cities in November. Shoppers who have had a special lock and camera installed (costing $199) can select in-home delivery at checkout. Like most firms offering the service, Amazon is tightlipped about user numbers. The boss of August Home, a San Francisco maker of in-home delivery locks, says that already hundreds of thousands of delivery drivers, dog-walkers, cleaners and Airbnb guests use its app keylessly to enter others’ homes. 从11月开始，亚马逊在美国37个城市提供送货入门服务。购买智能门锁和摄像头(售价199美元)的消费者可以在付款时选择送货入门。与大多数同类企业一样，亚马逊对用户数量的要求也很严格。旧金山的智能门锁生产商August Home的老板称，有几十万送货司机、遛狗者、清洁工和Airbnb的客人使用他家的无钥匙应用进入到别人的家里。 Offerings are multiplying. In 2018 August Home will go to Australia and Britain, and PostNord will launch in-home delivery in four Nordic countries. Walmart and Sears have tried it; Sears even tested unattended appliance repairs. Five logistics firms and two Swedish supermarket chains are trying or using locks from Glue, a firm based in Stockholm, for in-home deliveries. 业务蒸蒸日上。August Home将于2018年进入澳大利亚和英国市场，嘏PostNord将在四个北欧国家推出送货入门服务。沃尔玛和西尔斯百货做过尝试；西尔斯甚至测试了无人设备维修。有五家物流公司和两家瑞典连锁超市正在尝试或使用斯德哥尔摩的Glue公司的智能锁，用于送货入门。 Sceptics reckon these efforts will not amount to much. Plenty of consumers will be fearful about theft. Rhino Security Labs, a Seattle computer-security firm, claims it hacked into and shut off the video in one Amazon lock-and-camera system. In-home deliveries are incompatible with burglar alarms. And what if an improperly fenced-off dog or cat slips outside? Or an heirloom on display gets knocked over? These are tricky questions. But e-commerce firms have unlocked harder ones. 持怀疑态度的人士认为，这些努力不会有多大效果。很多消费者会害怕家里进小偷。西雅图计算机安全企业Rhino安全实验室称，它入侵并关闭了一个亚马逊的摄像头系统的视频。送货入门与防盗报警器并不兼容。如果外面是一只栅栏的狗或一只偷溜出去的猫呢? 又或者放在家里里传家宝被打翻呢?这些都是棘手的问题。但是电商公司解决的问题更难。 编译：邓思琪 审校：白雪 编辑：翻吧君 来源：经济学人 中国电商的蓬勃发展 电商时代的物流业需要重组 制造业努力适应电商发展 日企谨慎扩招外籍员工 如果比特币的泡沫破裂呢? 代币融资，投资须谨慎 人工智能的回报率：对冲基金嵌入机器学习？ Reward people gave a reward 长按二维码向我转账 受苹果公司新规定影响，微信 iOS 版的赞赏功能被关闭，可通过二维码转账支持公众号。 Scan QR Code via WeChat to follow Official Account