Smart Parcel Lockers, particularly in Asia and parts of Europe, are becoming increasingly commonplace as urban planners and city governments tackle two significant issues: urban congestion and air quality.
Massive Smart Parcel Locker installations are at the center of new thinking for urban planned Smart Cities where bicycle lanes and footpaths have replaced vehicular traffic. Entire planned neighborhoods include Smart Parcel Lockers located on the city’s fringe so that couriers need not drive to each house or condo to deliver their parcels. Consumers can access these installations 24/7 and can pick up parcels, rain or shine, on their time, quickly and easily.
It’s honestly just a matter of time before this is the norm in a world where city dwellers and new homeowners demand new thinking on “liveable” urban environments.
As we’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, this means some major advantages in a host of areas for the express courier. From increasing bottom line profits to providing better customer service, we’ve assembled the top five ways Parcel Port Smart Lockers will make you a hero with consumers and your shareholders.
1. Eliminate Missed Deliveries.
So here’s the deal. As an express courier, you know that almost 30% of your consumer deliveries are unsuccessful. Residents not at home to accept deliveries is the primary culprit. The result can be a costly re-delivery, a risk of theft if left unattended on their porch, and the undesired customer relationship path of having the consumer visit your depot. Depending on the time of year, that’s 30-40 minutes of their life they’ll never get back. So here’s the beauty of a Parcel Port Smart Locker. You-just-deliver-the-parcel. No worrying about someone being home, porch pirates, or leaving those “Pick up at the Depot” sticky notes on the consumer’s front door. As an express courier, dropping parcels off at a Parcel Port Smart Locker is easy and quick.
2. A Lot of Birds, One Stone.
You know that you’re wasting time and money with each parcel delivery to one house or condo unit. It’s the ubiquitous last-mile dilemma that we’ve spoken so much about. Imagine if all the parcels for one neighborhood could be at one time. Sounds enticing, doesn’t it? Well, with Parcel Port Smart Lockers, that’s exactly what happens. The consumer loves it because of number one above, and you love it because you save a ton of time (and we know what that means).
3. In and Out.
Ok, so we’ve gone through the inbound Smart Parcel Locker revolution. What about outbound shipments? Yep, you guessed as much. Parcel Port SmartParcel Lockers are outbound shipping nodes for consumer and small business parcels. The wins here are huge. It is easy: at the same time as you’re dropping off inbound parcels for the entire neighborhood or building, you’re also picking up shipments from consumers and SMBs, plus you’re the courier. Once you’re on board with us as a partner, our “Extra Smart” Smart Parcel Lockers will notify you that a pickup is waiting. Yes, we are that smart. Ultimately, you’re saving time and money on the inbound side and picking up incremental business on the outbound side without incurring any “pick up” costs.
4. Going Up?
As more and more planners and city governments reward developers for going “up” instead of “out,” condos are becoming the new face of urban architecture. Like the same scenario for urban neighborhoods, condos and large commercial high rises are perfect places for Parcel Port Smart Locker installations. A semi-captive environment where express couriers can drop off multiple parcels that hit the entire complex simultaneously. Additionally, as more and more office buildings embrace Smart Parcel Lockers, the same is true. The days of express couriers dealing with “concierges” out on patrol, never-ending up and down elevator rides, and condo dwellers that are not at home are soon to be a thing of the past. Remember, however, that you’ll need to be set up and recognized by the Smart Locker system as a partner as an express courier. Easy enough to do and a breeze with Parcel Port.
A ParcelPort Smart Locker in a national bank building.
5. Bringing It Home
Installing a Parcel Port Smart Locker at your depot is also another way to deal with customer pickups, even if your depot is closed. Essentially, a Parcel Port Smart Locker installation on your premises makes your depot a self-serve parcel pickup location. A perfect solution for customers who may otherwise miss a delivery or have selected your depot as a pickup location because it’s more convenient for them. This option will decrease consumer waiting times, especially during peak seasons, reduce your staffing, and provide more accessible and more convenient parcel pickups. This is ideally what the consumer wants.
ParcelPort is working towards building the largest independent and open parcel locker network in North America. Our locker network is designed to be used by any express courier who wants to lower their service costs while improving service and is being deployed in convenient community locations and multi-unit residential and commercial buildings.
Final Thoughts
We offer a range of services and an open API that allows couriers to integrate a ParcelPort offering into their current service, making it easy for express couriers to take advantage without building it themselvesTo learn more about how your organization can maximize smart lockers to reduce cost, increase revenue, and delight your customers, contact the ParcelPort team online by visiting www.theParcelPort.com, email at sales@theParcelPort.com or calling 1-800-818-0870.