Imagine this scene: you’ve locked yourself out of your apartment. You could climb in the window, call up a locksmith for emergency service, or finally put to use all of those hours you spent teaching the cat how to operate a deadbolt. Or you could walk to a nearby kiosk, provide a thumbprint, and receive an exact copy of your key.

Assuming you didn’t also lock your wallet inside, at least. Of course, all of this depends on having such a kiosk available and having the foresight to leave your thumbprint, e-mail address, and a scan of your key behind.

In a world where you can do everything from engraving an I.D. tag for your pet to buying cupcakes, wine and marijuana from some kind of automated kiosk, why do locksmiths and hardware stores control the important key-duplication market?

Enter the KeyMe kiosk, now available in five 7-Eleven stores in New York City. If the idea takes off, the company could expand: first to other dense, door-filled neighborhoods in Manhattan, then maybe to other areas. Maybe?

KeyMe even has an adorable, eBay-style origin story: the owner’s fiancée has a tendency to get locked out of their apartment, so he created this sort of ATM for keys.

The advantages of this kiosk:

• It eliminates pesky human interaction
• It’s open 24/7
• The whole “stores a copy of your key” thing
• You can get a key that doubles as a bottle opener, if that’s your thing

Disadvantages:

• Costs $20
• Isn’t available worldwide yet
• Doesn’t handle car or other advanced keys

‘Key-Osks’ Seek To Make Getting Locked Out A Thing Of The Past [CBS New York]
KeyMe [Official Site]

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