Your Guide to Holiday Parcel Surge Preparation
The holiday season—spanning from Black Friday through the New Year—is the busiest time of the year for parcel deliveries. While residents eagerly anticipate their online shopping finds, the massive influx of packages can quickly overwhelm property staff, leading to chaos, errors, and resident frustration. For a building manager aiming for operational excellence, proactive holiday parcel surge preparation is non-negotiable. Lockourier’s smart locker solutions offer the ultimate guide to ensuring your team and property are ready to handle the festive rush efficiently and securely in Canada.
Step 1: Implement Proactive Technology Now
The single most effective step a property can take is to remove staff from the package management equation entirely. Relying on a concierge resident or front desk staff to manually log, sort, and store hundreds of packages is simply unsustainable during the holidays. This is where Lockourier’s total package management system proves invaluable.
Take this example: Instead of staff wasting hours on package intake, Lockourier’s digital locker allows tech support to directly deposit packages. The system logs the delivery and instantly notifies the resident with their unique locker codes. This frees up staff to focus on resident experience, maintenance, and lease renewals—critical tasks that suffer during the holiday rush.
Step 2: Optimize Retrieval and Combat Theft
During the holidays, two major problems escalate: package dwell time (how long a package sits before retrieval) and theft. Residents often travel, or they are simply too busy to pick up their parcels promptly, causing packages to pile up. Furthermore, the likelihood of a stolen package skyrockets when items are left unsecured.
To combat this, your holiday parcel surge preparation strategy must focus on security and quick turnover:
- Mandate Secure Storage: Lockourier’s systems ensure no package is ever left exposed. This eliminates the risk of porch piracy and prevents that disastrous “my amazon missing package” call.
- Encourage Timely Pickups: Use the system’s communication tools to send automated reminder nudges. While the system manages this automatically, staff can also post friendly reminders in common areas of the apt condo to encourage residents to retrieve their deliveries promptly, keeping compartments available. This is crucial as Canadians travel frequently during this period.
Step 3: Train for Exceptions and Communicate Clearly
Even with the best system, there will be exceptions, such as oversized items or resident questions. Use the pre-holiday season to train your staff on handling these outliers and communicating effectively.
- Designate a Plan B: If you have an extreme surge and even the lockers are full, train staff on a temporary, secure overflow area and the process for retrieving items from it.
- Establish Communication Protocol: Ensure all staff members know the answers to common holiday questions:
Where is the locker system located?
What if the locker codes don’t work?
Do you accept food lockers deliveries (if applicable)?
Post a clear “Holiday Package Protocol” to preempt calls and keep the front desk clear.
By relying on the built-in system support from Lockourier, your staff can provide seamless, reliable service, even when they are busy.
To make this holiday season your smoothest yet, focusing on holiday parcel surge preparation that empowers your staff and delights your residents, we invite you to connect with us. In the true spirit of Canadian holiday cheer, we are ready to assist. Please contact us here: 855-432-5625 (LOCK) or info@lockourier.com #Lockourier