Amazon has expanded their pilot delivery locker system to eight locations on the east coast. There are now eight locker locations in New York City as well as the original eight that launched in Seattle last month.

The locker system works on a simple premise. Rather than having Amazon try to deliver a package to your home when you might not be there, the delivery courier will simply drop the package off at a near-by Amazon locker location where you can retrieve it at your convenience.

When a package is delivered to a locker, an email notification will be sent to the recipient along with a barcode. To retrieve your package, head to the location and scan the barcode at the system kiosk. A PIN number will then be provided and once that is entered, you gain access to the locker containing your package. Note that there are no additional delivery charges to use the service.

The service makes a lot of sense if nobody is home to accept your package during work hours. Or perhaps you want to order something while on vacation and have it waiting for you when you get back home. With the holidays just around the corner, users could buy gifts on Amazon and have them delivered safely without the recipient even knowing about it.

Assuming that the lockers test well in NYC, we would expect to see them appear in other major cities perhaps as early as the end of the year.