How to Prep for the Holiday Rush: A Checklist for Property Managers

Even though the temperatures remain ho-ho-hot, now is the perfect time to prepare your community and residents for the holiday season. Readying now boosts the resident experience while also ensuring the safety of all residents.

Four Wise Ways to Increase Safety During the Holiday Season

As you’ll see below, one of the key themes throughout our safety protocols is communication. Posting on social media, creating community notices, and emailing residents all work to get residents to take notice and action.

1. Reiterate Guest Policies – Yes, this is the most glorious time of the year, but also one when visitor numbers reach their peak. Remind residents about policies including parking rules, letting in unfamiliar faces, sharing passcodes, or duplicating safety keys.
2. Emphasize Vacation Best Practices – Residents might escape to build a snowman, but it doesn’t mean they should broadcast it to the world. Communicate with residents about the hazards of posting on social media while on vacation or allowing newspapers to pile up at their doorsteps. Both of these missteps literally telegraph to nosy neighbors that your unit is vacant. Sprinkle an ounce of prevention by using lighting apps and switches that easily mimic the signs of an occupied home. Further, assigning a close friend or neighbor to “check in” on your unit may also prove prudent.
3. Equipment Tune-Up – Before fall turns to winter, work with your maintenance experts to check chimneys, smoke alarms, snow blowers, or other seasonal equipment. Take the time to inspect water heaters and especially water pressure valves. Here’s where an ounce of prevention is worth its weight in safety.
4. Review Common Areas – Communal areas deserve closer inspection too. Look not only for dangerous cords but also for signs of water and mold. Animals make their way into buildings as well, so remain on the lookout for reindeer, mice, and assorted other animals.

How to Increase Package Security

‘Tis the season of abundance with package deliveries jumping up a dazzling 81% at apartments during the holiday season.¹ For a nice (and not naughty) experience, we recommend the following:

Review Your Package System

Make sure your package management process is working for you and your residents – before the holiday package crush hits. Smart lockers, for instance, can help you get out of the package management business and deliver on-demand access for all of your residents’ special holiday deliveries. Don’t forget about creating a space just for oversized items as well as a special reminder to residents that these items might require two people for retrieval.

Alert Residents

It’s easy for residents to forget about the logistics of retrieving a package. For pick-ups from the leasing office or other controlled access areas at the property, remind them about any necessary identification, scheduled holidays, and hours to retrieve a package. For pick-ups via Parcel Pending lockers, remind residents about late fees (if applicable), about using Vacation Mode (if they plan to go out of town), and where/how to retrieve oversize deliveries.

Prepare Your Team for Key Peak Periods

There are heavily and widely promoted events during the fourth quarter that will exponentially contribute to the onslaught of packages. Extra staffing and instituting a “no-grace period” package pick-up policy immediately after these sales events can also make your package management system more efficient.

• More Prime Days – Coming October 10th and 11th, this 48-hour sales event boasts discounts significant enough to kickstart the holiday buying season.
• Black Friday – This shopping ritual on the day after Thanksgiving, rang up a record-busting $9.12 billion of online sales in 2022.² As the country returns to a sense of post-pandemic normalcy, tepid forecasts put e-commerce shopping up in the single digits, but still an increase over a year ago, which translates into the need for a solid package management system.
• Cyber Monday – Back to work after the turkey holiday translates into shopping online from home, the office, or a coffee shop. The hybrid work schedule leans into this phenomenon with the day bringing in more sales in one 24-hour period than any other shopping day of the year!³
• December 24 Rush – Same-day delivery, growing globally at 23% YOY, is a game changer for procrastinating shoppers.⁴ Retailers are leaning in to service these last-minute needs. With Christmas Eve falling on a Sunday, staff vacations, and paid holidays, managing deliveries could easily turn disastrous without proper preparation.

Invest in Smart Parcel Lockers

According to a recent NAA announcement, residents now rank “secure package receiving options” as their most important amenity.⁵ And, after ranking third in a 2022 National Business Research Institute (NBRI) study of apartment residents, parcel lockers jumped in 2023 to the second most important amenity – just after secure parking.⁶ Clearly, your target audience is telling you that lockers have transformed from “nice to have” to an essential amenity.

The 4 Joys of Parcel Lockers

Lockers add value, reduce labor costs, and most importantly influence renewal rates.

1. Package Security – Say goodbye to building bandits and hello to package security with lockers from Parcel Pending by Quadient. No longer are packages piling up at a resident’s door for the easy taking. Residents receive a notification on their phone or via the app to retrieve their package by scanning the barcode at the locker kiosk. Steel lockers, a built-in photo capture system, plus the smart tech in the lockers and app makes it virtually impossible to steal packages.
2. Convenience – With lockers accessible 24/7/365, residents are assured a jolly and no-hassle package delivery experience.
3. Lower Labor Costs – Instead of your employees acting like hardworking elves accepting, storing, and retrieving packages, allow our smart technology to do the work. It’s estimated that installing parcel lockers can save communities an estimated 24 hours per week.⁷
4. Higher Lease Renewal – Resident satisfaction soars and renewals surge, as much as 40% after installing package lockers.⁸

Although the holiday season encourages us all to believe in miracles, the reality is that prepping now makes for a joyous season later. Contact us today to usher in your smart package solution.

Did you know that 75% of residents prefer receiving packages via lockers? Fill out the form below to download our complimentary eBook to gain more insights into residents.

Sources:

1. Parcel Pending by Quadient. 5 Ways to Create a Safe Community Experience During the Holiday Season. www.parcelpending.com. October 21, 2019. https://www.parcelpending.com/en-us/blog/5-ways-to-create-a-safe-community-experience-during-the-holiday-season/
2. Valinsky, Jordan. Online Black Friday sales set a new record. www.cnn.com. November 28, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/28/business/black-friday-sales-numbers/index.html
3. Capital One Shopping Research. Cyber Monday Statistics. capitaloneshopping.com. February 9, 2023. https://capitaloneshopping.com/research/cyber-monday-statistics/
4. Research & Markets. Same-day Delivery Services Global Market Report 2023-2027: Customer Satisfaction, Efficiency, and Lower Shipping Costs. www.globenewswire.com. August 11, 2023. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/08/11/2723432/28124/en/Same-day-Delivery-Services-Global-Market-Report-2023-2027-Customer-Satisfaction-Efficiency-and-Lower-Shipping-Costs.html
5. National Apartment Association. 5 Key Consumer Preferences of Renters. www.naahq.com. April 26, 2023. https://www.naahq.org/5-key-consumer-preferences-renters
6. Parcel Pending by Quadient. 2023 Resident Survey Report. www.parcelpending.com. August 21, 2023. https://www.parcelpending.com/en-us/resources/2023-resident-survey-report/
7. Based on average incoming package volume of 60 packages per day, 6 days per week, at 1 hour per 15 packages.
8. Cortland Partners resident survey showed as much as a 40% increase in renewal intent at properties with Parcel Pending by Quadient lockers.