How to Get Package Management in Your 2027 Budget

When it comes to budgeting for the next fiscal year, any arguments usually come down to one key equation: what’s the ROI on my investment? In this blog, we share our tips and tricks for getting package management into your budget, including how to measure and argue for the ROI of a smart package locker solution.

Key Takeaways:

• Budget planning typically starts in late Q2 or early Q3; getting ahead of the process gives you and your team more time to forecast accurately, spot cost-saving opportunities, and address inefficiencies before they become bigger problems.
• Package management usually falls under the technology upgrades or resident amenities budget category but may also fall under utilities and operations depending on how your organization is structured.
• Aligning your pitch with what stakeholders already care about, like lower operating costs, improved NOI, reduced staff workload, and stronger resident retention and satisfaction, helps streamline decision-making and speed up approval.
• Tying your target ROI to those same stakeholder priorities ensures you get the most out of your investment and choose the right vendor partner for your property and residents.
• Parcel Pending offers a range of flexible financing options, including purchase, subscription, and resident bill-back models, to help you fit smart lockers or package rooms into your budget.

Multifamily Budget Planning Timeline and Process

As you start to work on getting package management approved for next year, remember that a slow, strategic approach is best. It often takes months to create a compelling use case for senior management.

Typical Multifamily Budgeting Timeline

Since the budget process takes time, spans multiple quarters, and varies across individual properties and management companies, here is a general budgeting timeline for multifamily properties. This includes when to plan, present, and put your package management plans into action.

• Q2 – Planning: Enlist your team to measure your current package management baseline, assess operational needs, and identify your ROI opportunities. Work with potential vendors to gather estimates.
• Q3 – Present: Review and present your budget and secure approvals, as final budget decisions are typically made either late in this quarter or early in Q4.
• Q4/Q1 – Act: Work with vendors to prepare your property for your new solution and kick off the new year by implementing your package management plan.

Don’t forget: Since budgeting often occurs alongside your regular responsibilities, be sure to allocate extra time in your schedule for reviews and revisions.

Tips for Getting Ahead on Budgeting & Other Budgeting Best Practices

Whether you’re building your package management budget for the first time or bringing forward an existing proposal, these best practices can help you plan more accurately and get buy-in when it matters most.

Start Early and Plan Thoroughly

Getting a head start on the budgeting process gives you, your team, and potential vendor partners more time to forecast accurately. It also creates room to identify cost-saving opportunities and address operational inefficiencies before they become bigger problems.

A few ways to get ahead on package management planning:

• Establish a baseline for current package volume and handling time to identify bottlenecks.
• Document any other inefficiencies tied to manual package handling, whether that’s staff time spent sorting deliveries or recurring complaints about missed pickups.
• Gather resident feedback and staff pain points, since these firsthand accounts can strengthen your case when you’re advocating for budget dollars.
• Request vendor quotes early. Pricing and lead times can shift, so the sooner you have real numbers in hand, the more accurate your forecast will be.

Leverage Your Team’s Expertise

Budgeting doesn’t have to fall on one person’s shoulders. Assign specific categories to team members based on their strengths: your maintenance specialist, for example, should handle repair and upkeep projections, while someone else tackles utilities and amenities. Splitting the work this way leads to sharper estimates and lightens the load for everyone involved.

Your team should also incorporate current market data into their planning, including demographic trends and economic forecasts that could affect the property’s performance. This is a good moment to check what nearby competitors are offering. If other properties in the area have already rolled out package management solutions, understanding what type they’ve implemented can help you gauge resident expectations and stay competitive.

Make sure the team is pulling in up-to-date market data as they go, including local vacancy rates, demographic shifts, and economic forecasts that could affect the property’s performance.

Document Every Change

Keep detailed records of budget adjustments as the planning process unfolds, along with the reasoning behind each one. A shared document might be the best option so that other teammates can also input data. Over time, this documentation starts to reveal spending patterns, making it easier to spot where costs can be trimmed or where a category needs more funding. Those insights become especially valuable when you sit down to plan the next budget cycle.

Partner with Reliable Suppliers

Working with an established supplier like Parcel Pending by Quadient, one with a deep understanding of the multifamily industry, can make the whole planning process smoother. Keep in mind that the lowest bid doesn’t always translate to the best value for your property. Make sure that whichever vendor you choose aligns with your KPIs, not just your budget line.

Where Package Management Fits in Your Property Management Budget

Most property managers allocate annual operational and capital expense funds across several key categories:

• Staffing and payroll
• Maintenance and repairs
• Marketing and leasing
• Utilities and operations
• Technology upgrades
• Resident amenities and services

Although at first blush it may appear that smart lockers and package rooms are merely technology upgrades, the reality is that these solutions have become a multifamily imperative, even a key part of the community’s infrastructure: they reduce strain on staffing and payroll, improve the resident experience, and boost community security.

How to Justify the Cost to Stakeholders

Even when the need is clear, getting new initiatives into the budget often requires buy-in from asset managers, ownership groups, or executive leadership. The key is to present package lockers as more than just an amenity: they’re an operational necessity. Framing the investment in terms of the issues decision-makers already care about, like lower operating costs, improved NOI, reduced staff workload and turnover, and stronger resident satisfaction, makes the case far more compelling than focusing on convenience alone.

Sample Talking Points to Build Your Case

When you’re ready to make that case, a few talking points tend to resonate:

• Staff time: A smart locker system can save property teams up to 20 hours each week, freeing that time for resident services or leasing support instead.
• Renewals and retention: Reducing lost or stolen packages not only helps properties avoid liability but also makes residents feel safer in their community. Properties that install lockers have seen renewal rates climb by up to 40%, alongside more positive online reviews.
• Cost and ROI: Some locker vendors, like Parcel Pending, offer subscription pricing or resident bill-back programs that can help recoup the cost of ownership, or even turn the lockers into a new revenue stream for the property. In short, the solution can pay for itself over time.

Measuring Return on Investment

Getting smart lockers into your 2027 budget is a smart operational move and provides ROI in these three areas:

Operational Efficiency & Cost Savings

Automated package management removes the burden of package acceptance, processing, notification, and delivery from on-site teams. Consider the experience of Optima Camelview, a 700-unit condominium community in Scottsdale, Arizona. Before installing smart lockers, three concierge staff members spent nearly nine hours a day accepting packages, logging them in a ledger and hand-delivering notifications to residents, a process that sometimes delayed deliveries by days during high-volume periods. After switching to a Parcel Pending smart locker system, the property saw a 66% reduction in staff time spent on package management, freeing the team to focus on higher-value resident services like onboarding and notarial support.

Brickell on the River, a two-tower residential community in Miami that handles up to 500 packages a day during peak season, reduced its receiving staff by one full-time employee after installing a Parcel Pending smart locker system. With reception staff no longer needing to step away from their desks multiple times a day to retrieve packages from storage, the property increased its staff’s efficiency. It freed up its team to focus on core resident-facing functions.

Resident Satisfaction

You never want to overlook the ROI of happy residents: they become informal brand ambassadors, serve as strong referral partners, and are key to positive reviews. According to a 2025 National Business Research Institute (NBRI) survey, more than 90% of residents utilize lockers weekly and receive at least one package through the system.¹ Satisfied residents stay longer, reducing churn rate and turnover expenses.

Community Security

Lockers can also address other common property pain points, such as strengthening community security. Take FirstService Residential, North America’s leading property management company, which wanted to do more for its residents in Kansas City, Missouri. The community had been dealing with a significant package-theft problem that was causing property damage and increasing resident dissatisfaction. FirstService implemented a Parcel Pending locker solution and resolved the package theft issue and eliminated the unexpected expenses that came with repairing property damage – all while boosting resident satisfaction.

How Parcel Pending Can Help

If you’re looking for additional support with getting package management into your budget, Parcel Pending offers several flexible financing options to help make it work. These include:

• Purchase – With this option, a one-time investment covers hardware and installation costs, followed by ongoing monthly fees for software and support. This route works well for properties with available capital expenditure budgets that want to own their package management infrastructure outright.
• Subscription – Parcel Pending’s subscription plan gives multifamily properties a flexible way to implement smart locker solutions through one predictable, all-inclusive monthly fee on a 60-month term, with no upfront investment required. This comprehensive fee covers all locker-related expenses, including maintenance, service, and shipping costs, so you have complete financial clarity throughout the contract.
• Resident Bill-Back – Some properties offset smart locker costs by charging residents a monthly fee. Winther Investment Inc., for example, charged residents $10 per month to help recoup its investment after adopting smart lockers across its 12 communities. AG Living, a Dallas-area multifamily operator managing six properties, took a similar approach, successfully folding locker fees into its amenity package to generate additional revenue while keeping the cost affordable for residents.

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With online shopping continuing to grow in popularity with residents and the competitive multifamily landscape changing, getting smart lockers into your 2027 budget is no longer a luxury but an operational mandate.

Ready to lock in your package management solution? Contact a Parcel Pending representative today for support with getting lockers in your budget.

Sources:

1. Parcel Pending by Quadient. 2025 Resident Preferences Report. www.parcelpending.com. October 31, 2025. https://www.parcelpending.com/en-us/resources/2025-resident-preferences-report/