At the turn of the 20th century, people relied upon the Sears catalog to order everything under the sun. Tools for home repair, decor for the holidays, and yes, even Christmas gifts were ordered by mail. Though the tradition slowly died out over time as malls and shopping centers emerged, the United States has seen the trend come full circle. With the advent of Amazon and other online retailers, Americans are once again ordering much of their clothing, home decor and gifts online. While this is a convenience for most of us, the people working in apartment community offices all agree: package management can be a headache, particularly this time of year.
If you and your employees are feeling stressed by the sheer volume of packages that are delivered to your office each day, Scott Safadi of Cal Bay Property Management has some advice. By creating a system to organize these deliveries, you ensure not only that tenant deliveries will be safe and sound, but you also guarantee a neat and tidy office space.
How should you go about organizing deliveries? Start by selecting a space for storage. If all you can spare is a closet or hallway, you'll need to be extra careful in how you set it up. Organize deliveries by apartment number rather than last name. That way, people living under the same roof with different names can quickly pick up all packages for their household.
If you have some spare money in the budget, consider looking into a locker for delivery storage. Some communities have found this to be an effective way to minimize the stress surrounding deliveries. Designed to accommodate between five and eight apartments, lockers allow for round the clock delivery and pickup with no real oversight from staff. Tenants are assigned locker combinations allowing them to quickly and easily grab their packages when they have the time. The investment will be worth it, even if you can't afford lockers for everyone right away.
The reality is that 90 percent of shopping is still done in brick and mortar stores, which means the delivery industry will only continue to grow. As people rely on subscription services for everything from groceries to diapers to pet food, the delivery issues are not going away any time soon. By working smarter and not harder, you can ensure your tenants safely receive their packages while keeping staff from burning out.
- Scott Safadi, Cal Bay Property Management
