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Dear CNET members,

Many big-box retailers (like Best Buy, Wal-Mart) allow you to purchase an item from their online stores and ship it to a nearby brick-and-mortar retail location for pickup and without you having to pay shipping costs. I think it's a great option, especially when the shipping costs can easily turn a great bargain into a not so great one.

So what about when you order from Amazon? Since Amazon is an online retailer and there aren't any brick-and-mortar stores, shipping can get costly if you order from Amazon (unless, of course, you have an Amazon Prime membership, where two-day shipping is free for items that qualify).

Well, I have some good news for you folks who use Amazon.com in the United States or have contemplated using Amazon but were turned off by shipping costs. Amazon has just recently announced that it will soon be installing Amazon lockers at big-box retailers (starting with Staples and eventually going out to more retailers). How it works: if you order something from Amazon.com and don't want to pay the shipping cost, you can just have it shipped to an Amazon locker that's located at a store near you. You can then pick up the item without incurring any shipping costs. All the details on this can be found in this CNET blog post by Don Reisinger, titled "Amazon lockers on their way to Staples stores -- report."

My questions are: Would you use Amazon.com, or use it more frequently, if the Amazon lockers were an available option for you? What do you think of this strategy by Amazon? Do you think it will bring the company more business, or is it set up to fail? Why or why not? Do you think it will hurt brick-and-mortar stores that decide to lease out space to Amazon for the lockers, or do you think it will bring these retailers more foot traffic at their stores? Tell me what you think! And don't forget to vote in the poll.

Lee Koo
Community manager

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