Amazon container a San Francisco mystery

A big container with the Amazon logo has appeared in San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza, in the city’s Embarcadero district, not far from the San Francisco Bay.

What’s in it? No one besides Amazon really knows, though the online retailer was planning a media event there later Friday. The container appears to be a larger version of the delivery lockers Amazon has set up in several cities. The Wall Street Journal reported that “people will be filmed using the locker” at the promotional event.

The box is county-jail orange and is named “Giant,” and has a staff of security guards, KCBS reports. Like its highly publicized roll out of an aerial delivery drone, the delivery lockers are an attempt by Amazon to take a bit of its massive delivery bill from traditional shippers such as UPS and FedEx.

“The sheer size of the thing gives the box a gravitational pull of sorts,” Geekwire wrote. “People walking by definitely passed closer to it just to try and see what it is.”

The containers are also said to be a way for apartment dwellers and others to avoid the perils of having packages dropped off at front doors during the workday. Still, “I love my UPS guy,” one person looking at the San Francisco container told KCBS. “I want the UPS guy coming to my door giving me my daily hug.”