The Borneo Post

Your packages arrived, they’re causing lots of problems

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PACKAGE theft in her Chicago apartment building is so rampant, Sara Costello says, that she has begun re-routing all of her online orders to work: Potting soil, knitting kits, glittered wigs and the occasional bottle of sage-scented spray.

It’s secure - and practical, the actor and comedian says - at least until it comes time to lug her things home on the train.

“Sometimes I’m just sitting on the red line with a wig in my hand, or potting soil in my backpack, thinking, ‘ This is so weird,’ “Costello said. “I thought Amazon was supposed to make my life easier?”

Online shopping has been heralded as the ultimate modern- day convenienc­e, but in at least one respect, it can be anything but. Packages get stolen, boxes pile up in the rain and many residentia­l buildings - particular­ly those built back when people actually had to go to a store to shop - are running out of room for the never- ending barrage of deliveries.

The challenge has given rise to an entire industry that is racing to come up with technology that would make deliveries easier and more secure.

Retail giants are also getting involved: Jet.com recently installed smart-lock technology in 1,000 apartment buildings in New York to allow delivery workers access to buildings when residents aren’t home. Amazon. com - which accounts for more than 40 per cent of online sales - offers a similar service to Prime members.

The company is also installing locker systems in apartment buildings across the country. (Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, owns The Washington Post.)

“People have this overwhelmi­ng sense of fear that their stuff won’t be there,” said David Echegoyen, vice president of marketing for Jet.com, which is owned by Walmart.

“That’s been the big question for us: How can we remove friction from the e- commerce

Some days I’m crawling over packages - they’ll be all around my desk, on the tables, on the shelves.

Hillary Greenwald, the manager of Gelmarc Towers

experience, and in particular, with deliveries?”

This holiday season is expected to be a particular­ly busy one for the nation’s carriers. The US Postal Service says its expects to deliver 850 million packages between Thanksgivi­ng and New Year’s Day, a 10 per cent increase from last year.

( That comes out to an average of more than 20 million packages a day.) UPS expects its holiday load to rise five per cent, to 750 million packages, this holiday season, while FedEx says it’s planning for up to 400 million parcels.

The number of parcels shipped world-wide has increased 48 per cent in the past two years, as shoppers look to the Internet as a replacemen­t for routine trips to the store, according to data from technology firm Pitney Bowes.

People are buying products as varied as single tubes of toothpaste and grand pianos online, creating new problems for apartment and condominiu­m buildings - especially in dense, urban areas.

“This is one of the biggest puzzles in the apartment industry,” said Rick Haughey, a vice president at the National Multifamil­y Housing Council, a Washington non-profit group. “How do you manage hundreds of packages every day?”

Some building managers are installing package lockers, smart-lock technology and frontdoor cameras, while others have converted janitorial closets, basements and even gyms into makeshift package rooms. —WPBloomber­g

 ??  ?? Roughly 35 per cent of Americans say they have packages sent to an address other than their home to prevent theft, according to a survey by Shorr Packaging.
Roughly 35 per cent of Americans say they have packages sent to an address other than their home to prevent theft, according to a survey by Shorr Packaging.

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