Amazon could be planning parcel pickups from London tube stations

Amazon is reportedly planning to install pick-up points in London Underground stations, following Mayor Boris Johnson’s announcement this week that manned ticket offices are set to close down by 2015.

The Financial Times report suggests that Amazon is in talks with London Underground bosses to re-use the otherwise abandoned space as drop-off points for parcels, saving Londoners the hassle of waiting in for the postman when ordering from the online retail giant.

Amazon already has self-service Lockers here in the UK, which allow customers to order their purchases to a specific location for convenient collection on their own time, and the company recently confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that Londoners would be receiving Sunday deliveries for the first time using its own vehicles rather than the Royal Mail.

Amazon has yet to comment on the report, but it’s not outside the realms of possibility – supermarket chain Asda recently struck a deal to let customers pick up their groceries from London Underground and train stations. However, it will likely depend on whether the Mayor’s plan to cut jobs succeeds.

In order to finance all-night Tube services, around 750 jobs would have to be cut. Rail Maritime and Transport union General Secretary Bob Crow said that “the proposed cuts will decimate staffing levels and hit the most vulnerable users of tube services the hardest”. With industrial action a possibility, Amazon’s plans may have to wait until the proposed changes have been implemented.