How Smart Parcel Lockers Boost Employee Safety

COVID-19 has taken over every aspect of our business and personal life especially when it comes to employee safety and health in an office setting. While unsafe conditions in the workplace used to be strictly workplace hazards such as indoor air quality control, wet floors, and electrical equipment, we now must also be cautious of COVID-19. An outbreak of the disease can be just as deadly as a serious injury or office work tripping hazard like electrical cords. 

Remember the good ‘ol days when you could pack into an elevator, play the game of Monday morning quarterbacking around the coffee pot, and wait for hand-delivered packages? Clearly, those routines are over. But there is one new system that both protects your workers while boosting productivity: smart parcel lockers.

Pre-COVID	Post-COVID	Post-COVID with Parcel Pending Smart Lockers
Employees sort and distribute packages daily	Parcels pile up awaiting employee sorting	Major carriers distribute parcels to lockers without any employee labor, saving 24 hours weekly!
Office workers “surprised” when parcels delivered to work area or parcel center	Key employees attend office infrequently; pick up parcels haphazardly	Employees receive text/email alerts that parcel is waiting
Office workers retrieve parcels with in-person interaction	Employees retrieve parcels cautiously with human interaction and safety protocols	Employees retrieve parcels safely without human interaction; unique QR code opens lockers
Parcels delivered to office workers or alerted to designated pick up times	Employees social distance to pick up parcels from mail center/mailroom	Employees retrieve parcels as convenient (24/7) within 10 seconds without even touching keyboard
Employees manually monitor which parcels have been retrieved and are “stale”	Employees squeeze in package alerts when working from home on other tasks	System automatically notifies recipients that parcel remains unretrieved

As some offices reopen, tough decisions remain about package handling including how to create an office safety program that will help every worker stay safe. Whereas a shared package management facility once was key, today it conflicts with the need for workplace safety.  

Signing for packages, waiting in line for parcel retrieval, checking in with the mail room, or tracking packages not only steals valuable employable time, but also exposes employees to unnecessary risks and potential hazards. Adopting smart locker technology is a proven and productive way to leverage technology while protecting the health of your team.

Improving the Health & Safety of Your Employees

Since we use a carrier agnostic system at Parcel Pending, packages are placed in secure lockers without interaction by employees. Recipients are automatically alerted that they have a parcel pending. Our smart parcel locker system sends recipients a unique access code and/or a barcode to their smartphone, allowing for easy and safe package pickup without ever touching a keypad. In fact, it typically takes less than 10 seconds to retrieve a parcel with no signature required!

Given the ever-changing science of safety during this pandemic, smart locker technology not only promotes social distancing but prevents any human interaction. And, allowing office workers to pick up packages during extended business hours or even 24/7 (depending upon your facilities) spreads out pickups affording even better adhesion to safety guidelines.

Surge in Online Orders Triggers Demand for Secure Delivery

As safety concerns linger, the demand for e-commerce continues to surge. An astounding 51% of all purchases are made online and 62% of Americans are making purchases weekly. ^1,2

Further, experts predict a barrage of packages as holiday 2020 nears and safety restrictions remain. 

You’ll find that many of your employees view packages delivered to the office as a more secure alternative to residential delivery – avoiding the clutches of the dreaded “porch pirates.” Since all package deliveries and pick-ups are monitored, tracked, and verified by our built-in cameras and infrared scanners, we guarantee safety and security for each package. Theft and loss of packages decrease while employee satisfaction grows.

Smart Lockers: Where Safety Meets Productivity

Imagine saying goodbye to the headaches of package delivery, notification, and retrieval and hello to an extra 24 hours of productive time weekly for your employees. Our smart locker solutions track each delivery and pickup, providing you with a full chain of custody and visibility for each package.

Custom Configurations to Meet Your Business Needs

Count on us to custom configure a locker layout that fits your space, needs, and aesthetics. Installed in as little as one business day, smart lockers are available in single, double, or even triple tier arrangements with a variety of sizes so that 95% of all deliveries fit our locker sizes. Refrigerated lockers are also available affording safe fresh food and temperature-regulated deliveries. Best of all, your locker layout is scalable – it grows as your business needs grow.

Worried about how the lockers will match your workplace décor? Our stainless-steel lockers are available in virtually every color to match your branded image. You can even custom wrap our lockers to project the perfect image to employees and visitors.

Fully Backed by our US-based Customer Service Team

Since our inception in 2013, Parcel Pending has successfully delivered over 57 million packages in North America! Almost all of these deliveries required zero interaction with building management or administrative staff.

With our superb, U.S.-based customer service team, we have your back when it comes to support. Available 24/7/365, we offer email and phone support for any employee or building manager issues.

The office environment will continue to evolve as we learn more about COVID-19. Don’t let package management problems add more stress to your plate. Save time and money by streamlining your package management process with a Parcel Pending by Quadient locker solution. Find a solution that is best for your office building here.

Sources:

1. Parcel Pending. The Need for Commercial Use Parcel Lockers. (2020, January 6). /en-ca/blog/the-need-for-commercial-use-parcel-lockers/.
2. Smith, Aaron & Anderson, Monica. Pew Research Center. Online Shopping and E-Commerce. (2016, December 19). https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2016/12/19/online-shopping-and-e-commerce/.