Towards the end of 2021, businesses began the march back into the office, preparing for some differences in how their space operates. Offices made adjustments while COVID-19 mandates to accommodate work-from-home, hybrid work, and limited capacities. Many businesses decided to forgo services that specifically addressed in-office work such as catering, daily janitorial, and guest check-in services. Now that we are nearly halfway through 2022 and offices are nearly back at capacity, one procedural task seems more daunting than ever – package room management.
Throughout the pandemic, consumers became more reliant on e-commerce, online same-day deliveries, and subscription delivery services and despite COVID restrictions being relaxed in many states, this trend has continued. Offices everywhere are now being tasked with a higher volume of inbound delivery and package intakes, not only for their businesses but also for their employees.
How can businesses keep their package rooms organized and prevent package pile-ups or increased tension with employees? Our team put together 5 tips to keeping your package room operating a well-oiled machine.
Package Room Automation Software
On average, manually logging inbound package details and logging out packages takes six minutes per package. Utilizing package room software can cut this time down to seconds. Notifii Track offers a variety of automations – from OCR logging to automated reminders. Each designed to help shorten the time it takes your team to manage your package intake. Our automated optical character recognition tool (OCR), enables you to take a photo of the label of a package and save all relevant information to the system. You can then set up an automated text message and email to your employees that their package arrived – including information like carrier, tracking number, condition, and a photo of the package itself!
See it live by scheduling a free demo!
Communications
Set the right expectations with your team! Sending out automated text and email reminders ensures that even hybrid workplace workers are in the loop about their business-related or personal packages arriving in your facility. You can customize these notifications in Notifii Track with instructions about pick up, notes about materials or deliveries that may be perishable or hazardous, and more!
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Easy To Follow Workflows
Simplifying workflows is the best way to avoid simple mistakes in package management. Ideally, you want an organized physical system to find packages quickly to work in tandem with an organized software to keep record of all packages that enter your facility. The fewer the steps, the more likely this can be reproduced! This saves on training and overhead costs!
Pro-tip: Let your local delivery carriers know how they can help! Often local UPS, USPS, and FedEx drivers cover the same areas and are happy to follow protocol so long as it is shared with them.
Mail stops
In larger office spaces, it’s helpful to have multiple mail stops, or package pick-up locations, set up in your software and facility. This helps sort package deliveries as soon as they enter the building. Communicate to your team how to note which package room deliveries should be sent to and Notifii Track package management software can not only log the package information but the mail stop name that the package is being held at them for.
This is especially helpful in facilities that may involve product samples and deliveries. Get the product samples to the right team faster and allow for more time for general deliveries that may be a lower priority.
Getting Started
Closing our list on what to expect this Black Friday and Cyber Monday is an unlikely shopping habit; buying earlier enough. Many consumers seem to be aware and mindful of the likelihood of peak season shipping delays and are already planning to get their holiday shopping done as early as possible.
Also, consumers this year are well aware that their favorite shopping stores might run out of stock due to bulk buying that’s usually witnessed during the holiday season. Thus, many are likely to do their shopping earlier enough to avoid frustrations. This means that you should prepare to start receiving packages earlier than usual, lest you’re caught unprepared.
Read More:
Is Your Package Room System Ready for the Holiday Season? What You Need to Know
Package Management Stats for Property Managers
Package Overflow During the Holiday Season: How to Manage Personal Packages at the Workplace