Apartment managers had all been through the holiday package crush before, but they had never navigated a holiday shopping season compounded by COVID-19. Even before Black Friday, e-commerce trends in 2020, fueled by health concerns over in-person shopping, had established package volume levels that surpassed the holiday season from 2019.
Multifamily communities were already struggling to manage resident package volume, which made the 2020 holiday shopping season a truly eye-opening experience. Package deliveries inundated apartment communities like never before, exacerbating an already untenable situation. Leasing offices struggled to keep pace, only to be left with the blame for the delayed or lost holiday shipments, and strained resident relationships.
As we move into 2021, the baseline delivery volume is projected to remain 30% higher, rendering traditional package management infrastructure ineffective. A solution with the ability to scale alongside the increasing number of deliveries is a requirement moving forward in the multifamily space.