Article by Arthur, Creators of Parcel Tracker the AI Powered Mailroom Management Software
One of the biggest strains that building owners have had to contend with over the last few years is the dramatic increase in the popularity of online shopping and the subsequent strain this puts on building mailrooms and receptions.
Especially over the last year and a half, with national and global lockdowns shutting down brick-and-mortar stores and forcing most to shop online, mailrooms have been flooded with packages and parcels like never before; and this isn’t forecasted to end now that the world is beginning to return to normal.
(Graph showing the number of average deliveries made per person per month in pre-COVID compared to post-COVID times. Data from across 34,000 deliveries from Parcel tracker Mailroom Software)
Instead, as e-commerce popularity remains high – never again to see the lower pre-COVID level of popularity – the strain on mailrooms will become even greater, as people return to work and engage in leisure activities.
This means that property managers will need to take into account the extra storage time and space that deliveries will take up as fewer tenants will be able to receive them immediately, as people will be in their homes less.
Why does this matter?
In the age of efficiency, where seamless logistics implemented by e-commerce companies has made next-day – and even same-day – delivery a normality, people shop online more than ever, often receiving several deliveries a week. As such, they expect their parcels and packages to be available to them at the drop of a hat once they arrive.
However, if building mailrooms don’t adapt to cope with the constant high volume of delivers there will doubtlessly be delays, and even cases where parcels are lost or mislaid.
This is likely to decrease tenant satisfaction overall, damaging the reputation of the property and leading to an increase in complaints.
More than this, staff are more likely to be stressed and experience low morale – and more staff may need to be hired – if there aren’t adequate systems in place to streamline the ongoings of the mailroom.
So, what’s the solution?
As the world of business undergoes digital transformation, with efficiency and convenience becoming an absolute necessity for businesses’ survival, the real estate realm must also adapt to accommodate the expectations of the quickly evolving world.
Unlike the slow analog systems used by the real estate sector in the past, forward thinking property owners are investing in PropTech – technology designed to improve and ease processes within the realm of property – to maximise the efficiency and functionality of their buildings, ensuring that tenants are kept happy.
When it comes to coping with the vast influx of deliveries that the modern world facilitates, one of the best things that property owners can do is to implement mailroom management software and improve mailroom staff and receptionists skills
Mailroom management software supplants the analog method of logging and tracking deliveries – a.k.a. writing them down, or manually typing them up onto the computer – allowing deliveries to be recorded and located in record time and ensuring that deliveries can be handed to their recipients immediately, without fear or delays or misplacement.
So, if multi-home or multi-office property owners want to stay at the top of their game, improving the functionality of their buildings while maximising tenant satisfaction, then PropTech is an essential investment, with mailroom management software as an invaluable tool to adapt to one of the biggest pressures that multi-home properties currently withstand.