Sharing keys with Keycafe: Leave them at the convenience store!

Thanks to the collaborative efforts of Lawson and CaSy Co., Ltd., a new system in order to store personal keys in a safe and secure location has launched in Japan. Keycafe is a key exchange service that allows users to easily share keys with friends, family, guests and service providers. As of May 8th 2019, this system is available in 40 locations including 27 Lawson stores throughout the country.

Keycafe, complementing Japan’s sharing economy services

Keycafe is a service that functions as a way to safely store keys in a secure and reliable location. This startup was founded in 2013 in Vancouver, Canada and has since experienced an expansion into the global market. Users from around the world are able to access Keycafe in 45 cities and over 1000 locations.

Customers who have applied online may securely store their keys in IoT terminals. These terminals can be found at establishments such as cafes or Lawson convenience stores. In addition, users who have access to these terminals may also choose when keys can be received, which can be done from distant locations and without management assistance. This is a perfect tool for lodging businesses such as Airbnb to safely hand over to guests keys to an apartment or room.

House cleaning service CaSy already benefiting from it

CaSy, a Japanese house cleaning service, is also able to reap the rewards of Keycafe. The company now has over 60,000 customers, and a whopping 82% are absent from their households during the weekdays. This creates the dilemma of passing off keys to workers visiting the home.

Keycafe helps resolve this by allowing its customers to leave their keys in a safe location in order to allow CaSy employees to easily obtain them. Keycafe aims to expand this type of sharing economy and is planning to bring their services to sharing economy entrepreneurs, such as car sharing companies. CaSy users can also register for this service either through the app or the website. They will not need to pay fees for smart lock installation and spare key shipping.

 

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A post shared by Keycafe (@keycafe_inc) on Nov 17, 2017 at 4:42pm PST

Keycafe is the perfect service for users in Japan and worldwide. With various locations within and around Japan, it is a reliable way to safely store and transfer keys, whether it be for one’s own personal business or for family and friends.