Popbox e-lockers — large metal locker boxes featuring a monitor and drawers — have been installed at several train stations in the capital by a business that seeks to tap into the consumer market by recognizing the increasing mobility of Jakarta residents.

As the name suggests, an e-locker can be used to receive items purchased online and is aimed at consumers who do not have a specific mail address and or by those who have an address but are not often available at home or work.

Popbox Asia collaborated with PT KAI Commuter Jabodetabek (KCJ), the state-owned commuter line operator, to install Popbox e-lockers at train stations.

The Popbox concept allows shoppers to make a purchase online and select an e-locker location from which to collect their item. According to information available on Popbox Asia’s website, e-lockers are designed to be accessible 24-7 and shoppers can elect to collect their purchased items at selected stations including Kota in West Jakarta; Tanah Abang, Gondangdia, Cikini and Juanda in Central Jakarta and also Pasar Minggu in South Jakarta,

Customers can also receive items thought lockers installed at several shopping malls including Plaza Semanggi in South Jakarta.

“Popbox is very practical. It can be used as an alternative [address] for those who would like to receive a purchased item but are not available at [home and work],” Indra Kusuma, a private company employee who has used the Popbox service, told The Jakarta Post recently.

To keep stored items safe, each locker is equipped with two surveillance cameras and customers need to input a unique pin code before they can open the specific locker where their item is stored. The lockers are located inside the station.

“Unfortunately the locations are still very limited,” Indra said, adding that he had first used the service to collect a gadget accessory that he had purchased.

The e-locker is useful for highly mobile Jakartans but not many people understand how to use the service and some have no idea that the lockers exist.

Ilham, 27, a private company employee who boarded a train at Sudirman Station in Central Jakarta on Tuesday, said he had presumed that the locker was a facility provided for station employees.

“I often see the boxes. But I thought it was for the station’s staff [to store their belongings],” he said.

Similarly, 23-year-old Iena Absharina, a private company employee who commutes between Sudirman and UI Station in Depok, West Java, said she had been unaware of the function of the box and had not yet seen anyone use the service.

“It is an innovative business, but people don’t use it because they don’t know what it is,” she said, adding that the operator could put a sign near it to make people easily recognize it.

The e-lockers appear to have been poorly placed as, based on observation carried out by the Post at several stations, commuters rarely sight the lockers. At Kota Station, for example, the e-locker has been installed inside an ATM center separate from the corridor where commuters normally pass when heading to the station. Similarly, the e-locker at Sudirman Station has been installed in an out-of-sight location.

A security officer at Kota Station who preferred to stay anonymous as he claimed to “be afraid of his boss” said he never saw anybody collecting items, but added that the box had only been installed at the station several days ago.

“I think most people do not know what is it for,” he said.

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