America overwhelmed by all those packages
Delivery woes plague apartment complexes
Package theft in her Chicago apartment building is so rampant, Sara Costello says, that she has begun rerouting 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 percent of online sales — offers a similar service to Prime members. The company is also installing locker systems in apartment buildings across the country.
“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 experience, and in particular, with deliveries?”
The number of parcels shipped worldwide has increased 48 percent 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 nonprofit group. “How do you manage hundreds of
packages every day?”
Some building managers are installing package lockers, smart-lock technology and front-door cameras, while others have converted janitorial closets, basements and even gyms into makeshift package rooms. In extreme cases, apartment companies are banning packages altogether.
The Cairo, a 169-unit apartment building in Northwest Washington, has two full-time porters who deliver packages to residents. A few miles away, managers at the Meridian at Mt. Vernon Triangle have outfitted the building’s gym with dozens of package lockers, where residents can punch in special-access codes to pick up deliveries around the clock. Other properties around the country now rely on a service called Fetch, which collects packages and delivers them to residents once they’re home.
“People are buying everything online — even furniture, which means our offices end up looking like West Elm warehouses,” said Luanne Mcnulty, vice president of ZRS Management, an Orlando, Florida-based property-management company. “Sorting all of that out is easily a fulltime job.”